Links to original posts ...

>> Introduction

>> Prologue and Training in England
>> Across the Channel to France
>> Joining the Battalion at Duisans
>> Into the trenches - The Battle of Arras
>> Heading north to Ypres
>> Into the trenches - The Third Battle of Ypres
>> Back to England

>> Bradley - Closest friend and companion
>> Postscript


27th May 1917 (Whit Sunday)

Drumhead service on the football ground was a change from the exertions of the previous day although to me the regimentation of the Church service smacked of religion by numbers.  Standing at attention in the boiling sun I could not attune myself to the pious attitude the occasion demanded nor enter wholeheartedly in the many appeals to the Almighty to bless our cause and our arms.  The ceremony failed to provide the necessary uplift which the spirit demanded and I became depressed and ashamed of my heretical outlook.

In the weeks that followed I learnt to know the meaning of Christianity without frills from all those men with whom I spent every hour of every day.  I owe them much.


Church parade.
Divine service on football ground.
4:30am air raid.

Original diary entry
Original journal notes