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Date: June 1918
Diary

[transcription provided by collection donor]

Jun 2, 1918
Marched back to Rely passing through Lillers, Bourecq & St. Hilaire.

Jun 3, 1918
Visited Aerodrome at Rely. Went for a ride with Capt. Cote & had tea with Col. Snell, A.D.M.S. at Norrent-Fontes. We are under warning orders to move on ten minutes notice.

Jun 5, 1918
Went for a ride with Capt. Cote, passing through Linghem & then by road to Witternesse where I saw Capt. McKenzie, M.O., 43rd Bn. Returned passing through Quernes & then cross-country to Rely.

Jun 6, 1918
Have applied to A.D.M.S. to be sent to the Rest Home at Biarritz for three weeks rest. Not being very fit lately. Leave to Blighty has opened but it is very slow. One officer per battalion per month.

Jun 10, 1918
We have a new Brigadier, Col. Ormand. Today it rained like the devil. We were out all day on Div. manouevres & our brigade (the 9th) out manoeuvred all the others.

Jun 11, 1918
Went for a ride with Lft. Wallace across country which we both enjoyed very much. Had a bath.

Jun 12, 1918
Held Batn. sports at Linghem. We took over the line Robecque sector. Leaving Rely at 10pm by lorries & were in position by 11pm. We remained here for 2½ hours & then were ordered back to Rely.

Jun 13/1918
Out on night manoeuvres.

Jun 14, 1918
Out manoeuvring with tanks.

Jun 23, 1918
Held Divisional sports at Linghem. It was a fairly good day. We had a dandy Midway & a parade of all the floats which was very good. Outside of the track meet there was lacrosse, baseball, wrestling & boxing. The YMCA served lunch & later afternoon tea which was greatly appreciated. The YMCA can’t get too much praise for the work they are doing over here.

Jun 24, 1918
Went to the BowBell show, an Imperial party. They put on selections from the Maid of the Mountain & were by far the best I have seen in France.

Jun 25, 1918
There is an epidemic closely allied to influenza. Today I had over 300 on my sick parade. It comes on very suddenly & lasts about five days. There is pain in the head, back & limbs, sore throat, gastric disturbances & constipation. Congestion of conjunctiva, dusky appearance, rapid pulse & temperature of 102-104. Many cases have bronchitis. This sickness is spreading rapidly through the whole army. (Spanish Flu)

Jun 26, 1918
Orders came in to move. We had to march at Aire. I managed to have my sick sent by lorries. We entrained at Aire 5pm & reached Aubigny at 11:30 pm. On the way I had several more cases of Spanish Flu break out. Here I sent 16 of the most serious cases to the C.C.S. There were 3 lorries to transport over 278 sick to our camp. Each lorry could carry 30 packed in like sardines. It was 4am on Jun 27th when I arrived with the last of the sick at Lignereuil. I had my hands full every minute of the time, was very tired & felt as if I was going sick. I was billeted in the Chateau with Brigade H.Q.

Jun 28, 1918
Going on leave 10 days. Relieved by Capt. Harris. Rode over to Aubigny passing through Givenchy-le-Noble, Izel-les-Hameau & Tilloy. Entrained at Aubigny, went to Rouen, Paris & Bordeaux, arriving at Biarritz at noon on July 1st.