Edward Walford Manifold was born on 28th April 1892 and grew up in the Western District of Victoria. Together with his older brother William Herbert (Bee), he travelled to England to join the Royal Field Artillery when World War I broke out. Day by day, this blog publishes his letters home and the entries he made in his diaries, from 1915 when he was first sent to France until 1918 when his service ends. (To follow on Twitter: manifold1418)
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Sunday, 16 September 2012
Diary Entry - 16th September, 1917
Came down at seven a.m. from the infantry, having spent a quiet night. They had an American doctor there - quite a good chap - and, if the rest are like him, shan't mind them. Settle down for a quiet morning at the guns when the infantry major rolls up for instruction, so I gas to him on gunnery from nine thirty until one p.m. when I was pleased to see Sherman back from his trip round the trenches with Claudet, who is now acting Group Commander, Courage being on leave. As the Hun put a 10 cm shell in close proximity to our Mess in Annequin we decided to move to the place we had been preparing at the guns. Incidentally, the cook - one Gunner Dempsey - having been presented with 50 francs to buy Mess goods, thought it a good time to go on the bust, so left all the moving to be done by one man and cleared off for the day. Sherman is told by Armytage of Hewitson's return off the infantry course and he careers down to see him at five p.m., coming home in a more than pleased condition at twelve on his bicycle and hits a pile of cobble stones on his way, somewhat laming himself. The results of dining with Hoyland and Hewitson at the four eight's wagon line.
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I believe the cook was Gunner (acting Bombardier?) Christopher Dempsey (60859)
ReplyDeleteI hope he enjoyed himself. Presumably he would have had to pay for his bit of fun later.
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