Diary of George Booley, 5th Battalion, AIF, 1918, Part 7

MAY-1918 
1 Wednesday-Sun rises 4.35, sets 7.19. 
SS. Philip and James

Got a move on in the 
morning and walked to Hondeghem 
by 11.30, after dinner 
purchased a few articles 
& went to QM.s then sent  
the writing paper & envelopes 
up to the Boys arrived  
back about 6.PM. the  
biggest day for some  
time. 
  

MAY-1918 
2 Thursday-Sun Rises 4.33, sets 7.21. 

After dinner went up to  
see the Boys & had another  
dinner roast pork & mashed  
potatoes, had tea rissoles  
of pork & mashed potatoes. 
Today has been sunny &  
bright although there  
was no observation.

MAY-1918 
3 Friday-Sun rises 4.31, sets 7.23. 
10 h 26m After. 

Went to QM in after 
noon & then took some  
mail up to the Boys, 
I received two four more  
letters making 6 in all 
from Aussie. Stayed  
up with the Bn to 
tea & after had a look 
through many houses 
in Boue, it is a shame 
to see them, the people 
left in haste & since 
then souvenier hunters 
have been busy & in 
some shells have 
scattered things far 
& wide, it is as dismal 
a sight as one could  
see. 
  

MAY-1918 
4 Saturday-Sun rises 4.29, sets 7.25. 

Moved through La Krule &  
La Berarde to St Sylvestre Cappel 
into some Huts a distance 
of about 6 Kilos. After our 
arrival we got a football from 
the YMCA & had a game in  
which I put my thumb  
out. There are some French 
troops camped on the Farm  
near us.

MAY-1918 
5 Sunday-Rogation Sunday 
Mg. - Deut. vi.  Luke xxiii. 1-26. 
Evg. Deut. ix. or  Deut. x. 1 Thes. ii. 

Did not get up till midday. 
After dinner wandered  
all round after telephone  
wires, quite a pleasant 
Sunday afternoon, received 
two letters, one from Jim Mac 
saying he was in Blighty  
gassed. 
  

MAY-1918 
6 Monday-Sun rises 4.25, sets 7.28 
Accession of King George V., 1910. 
Royal Academy opens. 

Spent most of the day working 
on lines, the biggest days 
work for some time. 
Harry was down to see me 
but I was out.

MAY-1918 
7 Tuesday-Sun rises 4.23, sets 7.29. 

Arose at 12 oclock, at dinner 
time we were told we had to 
move again a distance of about 
half a mile. After the shift I 
started out for a walk to shake 
off a fit of the blues, I went to 
Hondeghem had some steak 
& chips bought some Canteen 
stores & walked back again 
The artillery has been very 
active all day heavy bombardments 
on either side of us 
extending over a fairly wide 
front judging by the sound, 
later in the day the Bosche  
shelled the back areas fairly 
constant & looks like an 
attack. 

  
MAY-1918 
8 Wednesday-Sun rises 4.27, sets 7.30. 

In the afternoon decided to come 
to the Bn to see what was being  
done in the way of a change over, 
when I arrived I found some 
had gone down to relieve me, 
so I had to go back again 
& get my gear. In the evening 
a couple of chaps were in 
playing the piano & we  
had a sing song, one 
of the Coys borrowed the piano 
earlier in the day evening 
& had a Concert.

MAY-1918. 
11 Saturday-Sun rises 4.17, sets 7.35 

In the afternoon Bill 
& I did some work on 
the lines which was 
quite enjoyable to me 
after my inactivity at 
the Necleus Bn. 
  

MAY-1918. 
12 Sunday-Sunday after Ascension. 
Mg.-Deut. xxx.  John iii. 1-22. 
Evg.-Deut. xxxiv. or Josh. i.  1 Tim. i. 1-18. 

Gathered up some more wire 
In the evening myself & four 
others went up to look over 
the H.Q.s of our position in the  
line, it was very quiet & it  
was quite a pleasant stroll. 
As observation was good we 
sat behind a hedge & watched 
one of the best known spots  
in Belgium being blown  
to pieces with heavy shells, 
the Mont-de-Cats Monastery, 
whether the Hun is justified  
in this I don't know, at  
one time it was a big  
Hospital. During the 
night Bomb dropping was 
revived quite a number 
of planes being up.

MAY-1918. 
13 Monday-Sun rises 4.14, sets 7.38. 

Packs & blankets put away & 
another Necleus formed, Hap 
Tommy & T.B.W going to it. 
The day was wet, we came in 
to the line about dusk & had  
a quick change over but 
found the lines in a very  
unsatisfactory state, four 
of us Tommy, Harry, Bill & I 
were out till daylight  
on them but were able  
to get them in fair order 
  

MAY-1918. 
14 Tuesday-Sun rises 4.12, sets 7.40. 

As it was about 5 AM before 
we got to bed we stayed  
there all day, our house a  
nice farm is under direct   
observation so we have to 
lay keep low. In the night we 
four went out again 
on the lines finishing up  
about 3.AM. during the  
night some posts in 
the line were advanced 

MAY-1918. 
15 Wednesday-Sun rises 4.11, sets 7.41. 

Slept most of the day. 
In the afternoon sat in 
the garden & wrote some 
letters. Aircraft very busy 
both by day & night, our  
planes did a lot of bombing 
in the night. 
Our lines only had one 
break & the Coys fixed 
it so we had a night 
off 
  

MAY-1918. 
16 Thursday-Sun rises 4.9, sets 7.43. 

Just an ordinary day as 
far as the war goes, but the 
weather was splendid. 
The night was a rough 
one for the linesmen, 
about 10 PM he commenced 
to shell heavily & continued 
on & off up till daylight, 
we had to come in leaving 
some of our work undone. 
Our casualities were  
light only one killed  
& about 4 wounded.

MAY-1918. 
17 Friday-Sun rises 4.8, sets 7.44. 
8h 14m After.  

In the morning C. Coy made 
a daylight raid on a Hun 
post of 16 men killing 5 
of them the others got 
away. In the night a 
party raided another 
post & found the Huns 
had been too quick & 
had all got away. 
Syd. Williams was wounded 
The lines held well in 
spite of a fair amount 
of artillery. 
  

MAY-1918. 
18 Saturday-Sun rises 4.7, sets 7.45. 

A fairly ordinary day. 
In the night we threw 
over gas cylinders. 
Some of the 1^st. Bn lines 
men came in to take 
over the lines.

MAY-1918. 
19 Sunday-Whit Sunday 
Mg.-Deut. xvi. 1-18.  Rom. viii. 1-18. 
Evg.-Is. xi. or Ezek. xxxvi. 25.  Gal .v. 16, 
or Acts xviii. 24 to xix. 21. 

Came out of line to a  
camp near Hondeghem 
it used to be a Chinese 
labour Camp. 
We came out fairly 
early arriving at the 
Camp about midnight, 
shelling was 
fairly lively. 
  

MAY-1918. 
20 Monday-Sun rises 4.4, sets 7.48. 
Bank Holiday. 

We slept till near dinner 
time, after dinner we 
commenced to clean 
ourselves up when we 
got orders to scrub our  
equipments, it is a 
bit hard having to do 
such a useless thing 
when a fellow has ke 
not had time to wash 
his body, it does not 
improve the temper 
of the crowd. In the 
evening had a good  
wash, change of 
clothes & then listened 
to the Band.

MAY-1918. 
21 Tuesday-Sun rises 4.2, sets 7.50. 

Spent the day idly under 
a tree most of the time 
& it was a treat too 
Blancoed equipment. 
& took a pile of washing 
away to be washed. 

  
MAY-1918. 
22 Wednesday-Sun rises 4.1, sets 7.51. 

Parade in morning spent 
under trees, it was supposed 
to be bugger work. 
In the afternoon our HQ. 
Cricket team played a 
N C. Coys of Tommies & 
beat them badly. 
scores on first innings 
being us 152 innings 
declared & theirs 50 all 
out.