Diary_1

10 Sunday May 10 2 A.M. Ritchie & Peter came down & woke us up. Expected Jap raid by paratroops on important places. 7 & 9 & 19 pl [platoons] to go out & 8 to stop in. We were to go out & patrol from Weir to Black school somewhere Every man to be ready at minutes notice issue of 50 rounds. Went up to Tom Armanacq & got dope. He told me to be back at 5.15 to stand to I did as round cooks boils, Orders from BHQ no lights not even cooks & fire glows to be suppresed. Bacon & egg for bfast. No eggs came & one piece of bacon for men. Ray opened up spare tins of bully beef. Went on sick parade M.O. had a look at arm told me not to use it again. Treatment & no use if arm on sick report. Hill billying going on again on Mt Boble. Section at night & 2 men per day also sigs. Lay down slept & read all morning. Had dinner & came back & read some more. Had a yarn with Peter. Neil Campbell 11 hours solo to his credit must have a lick at air force. Tried Marges cake not too bad. Peter gave me some of his birthday

11 cake this morning it was pretty good too. He applied for discharge this afternoon. I drilled Bren barrels through this morning & gave it once over. Fred Stump is No 2 on gun. Heard football game played about 6 different way after match A Coy defeated by 12 to nil by C Coy. Tom Armanacq knocked out he didn't come home. A sort of camp concert tonight Cliff Noble playing accordion & lads sang. Very poor show. Complete blackout in camp. & I suppose town. Went to bed fairly early. No alarms through night. Very quiet afternoon nothing doing much. Would like to be out of this joint.

Monday May 11 On sick parade again. M.O. had a look at arm. T & LD. verdict for today. Lad at R.A.P told me to come back before or after tea. Tonight Les Moody back. He has leaky valve in heart McIntosh & Payne recommend a discharge. Doctor don't seem to think it is serious. He is to go over after & see about a medical board. They are going to give him one. Helped Vic Mirdorff this morning scrubbed shit house seats & gave Baxter a hand to burn tins from cook house & unpack papers

12 Letter from Mum. 12/5/42

from P&O tent. Tried to sleep but couldn't after dinner. About 4 P.M. had a shit & found D'addoner packing his gear. He with others have been possibly interned. They are. Bruno Drovandi Tony Azzolin D'adonnor Ben Regazzini Joe Tobaldi Snow Spiegelheur Len Pradella Went over to RAP. after tea got a lift over & got arm dressed. Guard on road near R.A.P. bailed me up. Got a tin of water for bath & Blue arrived home about 7.30 p.m. Platoons out digging tonight instead of patrols. Saw 3 new type of bombers tonight early RAAF colours on it. Lads interned apparently for Labour Battalion. Toto Diesel & Gobassa I believe going too. Major reconed they were lucky. Pity he didn't go too. Went up & had a yarn with Tony Azolin & came home & went to bed.

Tuesday May 12 Went sick again. T & LD. Got core out of boil this morning. Didn't do much LD. scrubbed shit house seats & they decided to put guard on Nth gate. Went down at 10 AM. with Wardy. 11.AM Stan Malcomb came down. Bill Kerns brought dinner down. Burnt stew - Put in all afternoon down

The aliens went after breakfast this morning. Joe arrived back last night & they took him too

13 there. Old Ponchillo went out twice but never came back through. Had to hold all incoming traffic up. All leave trucks cancelled now. Have to find own way in & out of town. Understand they are trying to incorporate a bus service. Poor hopes I think Sat back about 7 PM after having tea and found swinging in door way a french letter with water in it. Never let on I saw it. There are only three jokers who could have & would have put it there. Blue Major & Norb. I think they were trying to make tent too hot for me. Dud came back today and had a yarn with him tonight also Peter Got to bed about 10PM. A spot of gambling going on in Percys tent.

Wednesday. May 13 Went over to IMO again T & LD verdict again. Am o.k. though. Had it dressed. Cleaned up tins and papers etc about tents with Dick. Put an axe handle in axe & give it a bit of a sharpen up & chopped a bit of wood. Came home after breakfast & french letter threaded on

14 nose of rifle. Took it off & put it on mouth of Blues water bottle & on second thought put it in fire. These jokers wouldn't understand the joke. Nearly everyone on guard tonight Bill Kerns asked me to go on. I said O.K. Coy guard. About tea time it was changed & I went with Mr Haynes Cpl Edwards & 8 others on fighting patrol We went to Burdells & for 3000 yards odd to a fence at 307 & then back to Bohle School (this side about 1/2 mile). To quarry & to a gully down from windmill at piggery on Bohle. R. Mr Haynes stopped to contact next patrol coming out & the rest of us came home. Marshal Roberts & I were scouts. Got home about 9.30 pm. Had a drop of coffee & got some water & had a bath & wrote diary now off to bed Should write to Marge too but I think I will tomorrow. The other three in tent on Batallion Guard tonight.

Thursday May 14th Went on parade this morning Bob pull through