Diary of George Booley, 5th Battalion, AIF, 1918, Part 13

AUGUST—1918 
29 Thursday-Sun rises 5.8, sets 6.54. 

Applied for a special pass 
for the day to go to No 2 AGH 
got it & was out there for  
lunch, had tea at the  
Mess also & then went to 
Wimmereaux  for the rest  
of the evening with Sister 
Mc. Nicky McHardy & Wright 
& just caught the last  
tram in time to get 
into Camp. 
My old trouble the 
bleeding commenced 
again. 


AUGUST—1918 
30 Friday-Sun rises 5.10, sets 6.52. 

Left the Camp at 12.30 for 
the Base entrained near 
Boulogne & travelled 
all night, rather rough 
without a Blanket in 
Horse trucks.

AUGUST—1918 
31 Saturday-Sun rises 5.11, sets 6.49. 

Arrived at Harfleur 
about 3.PM. marched 
to Camp about 2 Kilo. 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
1 Sunday-14th after Trinity 
Mg.-2 Kings ix. 1 Cor. xi. 17. 
Evg.-2 Kings x. 1-32, or 2 Kings xiii. 
Mark v. 21. 

Innoculated today, drew 
my Kit. Met Gordon Campbell 
who told me Harry & many 
others were gassed &  
two of the Boys dead. 
Went to Church Service 
in the night.  
Went before the M.O. & asked 
to be allowed to go on to 
the Bn & He said I could.

SEPTEMBER—1918 
2 Monday-Sun rises 5.15, sets 6.45. 
Partridge shooting begins. 

Went on Gas parade 
got paid in afternoon. 
& made final arrangements 
for departure on  
the morrow. 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
3 Tuesday-Sun rises 5.17, sets 6.43. 

Marched to Le-Havre 
& entrained leaving there 
at 4.30 PM. & travelled 
all night.

SEPTEMBER—1918 
4 Wednesday-Sun rises 5.18, sets 6.40. 

Arrived at Corbie just 
after daylight & marched 
to reinforcement camp 
later had gas lecture 
& in afternoon was put 
on cleaning up houses 
removing furniture  
etc but did not do much 
Went to Concert party in 
evening 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
5 Thursday-Sun rises 5.20, sets 6.38. 
10h 44m Morn. 

Went out to Bn in 
the morning a distance  
of only about 4 Kilos they 
were camped at Bear 
Wood. The Section was 
6 strong when I arrived.

SEPTEMBER—1918 
6 Friday-Sun rises 5.22, sets 6.36. 

Went to see Dr who 
gave me a few days to 
improve in health so 
go back to Hospital.  


SEPTEMBER—1918 
7 Saturday-Sun rises 5.23, sets 6.34. 

In view of a move tomorrow 
packed things up.

SEPTEMBER—1918 
8 Sunday-15th after Trinity. 
Mg.-2 Kings xviii. 1 Cor xvi. 
Evg.-2 Kings xix. or 2 Kings xxiii. 1-31 
Mark ix. 2-30. 

Got aboard the Buses about 
10.AM moved through 
Morcourt, Merricourt, Bray 
Corbie, Clery to a position 
behind Mont St. Quentin 
& in spite of the fact that 
it was only taken a few 
days ago, the way is 
miles away & we cannot 
hear the guns. 
Arrived pretty tired. 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
9 Monday-Sun rises 5.26, sets 6.29. 

Slept till 9.AM. & did 
little all day but eat 
write & look after the 
phone. In the evening went 
to Mont St. Quentin to Bde with 
Sammy & Ferg, it is only a few 
days since the place was 
taken by the 9th 2nd Div with 
few Casualties & many prisoners 
it appears to have been a fortified 
place of some strength 
& commands a lot of Country, 
& overlooks Perrone which 
is only about 2 Kilos away 
& has been a fair sized Town 
in its day but is badly 
smashed now, it is reported 
that some of the 8th Bn were 
blown up while moving a dead  
Hun on a stretcher to bury Him 
a bomb was set to the Stretcher. 

SEPTEMBER—1918 
10 Tuesday-Sun rises 5.27, sets 6.27. 

Nothing much doing 
today, Cubbo came back 
today 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
11 Wednesday-Sun rises 5.29, sets 6.25. 

Moved through Mont St. 
Quentin to a place near  
Buire not the Buire we used 
to live in before, the Camp is 
a lot of burned out huts but 
with plenty of iron to fill 
in the open ends they are  
Fairly comfy. In afternoon 
Sammy, Sibley & I went 
to Bde & then helped to 
salvage wire & run a line 
in which we were successful.

SEPTEMBER—1918 
12 Thursday-Sun rises 5.30, sets 6.22. 

Went to Dentist & had a  
tooth filled & have to go 
again tomorrow, he is a 
good dentist. 
The weather is rather 
wet & rough just now. 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
13 Friday-Sun rises 5.32, sets 6.20. 
3h 2m After. 

Went to dentist & had two 
more fillings in. Went for 
walk in evening to get a 
pair of shell cases. 
Hun aeroplanes active 
in evening & we had the 
satisfaction of seeing 2 
of them brought down, 
giving us a real fireworks 
display the cheers could 
be heard for miles.

SEPTEMBER—1918 
14 Saturday-Sun rises 5.34, sets 6.18. 

Fourteen 1914 men left 
for Aust today but they 
appear to be taking any 
one who has had a few  
years in Blighty first. 
Orders to move the supports 
Sammy & I went forward 
early to supports, had 
a bit of work, shelling 
with heavy stuff. Took 
up our abode in a deep 
dugout near Rosiel. 


SEPTEMBER—1918 
15 Sunday-16th after Trinity. 
Mg.-2 Chron. xxxvi. 2 Cor. vii. 2 
Evg.-Nehem. i & ii. 1-9, or Nehem. viii. 
Mark xii. 35 to xiii. 14 

Got to bed about 2.30AM 
& with exception of sitting 
up for breakfast remained 
there till 3.PM. when we 
had to go out on lines 
again & saw the Brig 
& staff Capt come dashing 
out from amongst some 
shells

SEPTEMBER—1918 
16 Monday-Sun rises 5.37, sets 6.13. 

Shelling normal, did a  
bit of line work in the 
night, in the night  
the Heavies got going much 
movement of traffic & guns 
so very close to the line. 


SEPTEMBER-1918 
17 Tuesday-Sun rises 5.38, sets 6.11. 

Much preparation for  
the stunt, guns coming in 
everywhere, in the evening 
the Huns were over dropping 
tons of Bombs all 
around, we could see 
them flying among the 
clouds around the moon