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Family transcript 13: "Great War Diary" pt 5
Fifth set of excerpts from the Great War Diary 1915-1916 of my maternal Grandfather, Ernest Walter Cooke (1895-1949), commencing 14th March 1916
14. MARDI Ste Mathilde Started moving all equipment etc taken to station Office emptied. Very busy 15. MERCREDI S. Zacharie Reveille @ 5.0 am Breakfast 5.30 am Hpl. cleared from Imperial Hotel Boulogne Arrive Dannes-Camiers @ 4.30 pm 16. JEUDI S. Cyriaque Busy unpacking at Camiers. Sleep in tents Y.M.C.A Hut @ 7.0 pm 18. SAMEDI S. Alexandre Recommended for Cpl63 63Ernest in fact was further promoted to Sergeant later in the War 19. DIMANCHE REMINISC Promoted Acting Corporal with Pay from 18.3.16. Went for a walk up Chocolat Hill64 64This does not appear to be a local name: it may, like many other Great War sites, be a British Army jocular re-naming: if so then it would probably be in reference to the Chocolate Hill which saw fierce fighting (including the Warwickshire Yeomanry) in August 1915 during the Gallipoli campaign. 22. MERCREDI Ste Léa Wet Y M C A @ 7.0 pm Rcd 5 f from home 24. VENDREDI S. Timothée Paid 25 f Y M C A Concert 7.30 pm 26. DIMANCHE OCULI Half Day Walk up Chocolat Hill avec Webb & Fogg Promotion Barn Sarni?? @ 7.30 Barron’s Office AVRIL 1 SAMEDI S. Hugues S M Humphries arrives On duty all day Change tents now Cl. 6. JEUDI S. Célestin Bath 3.0 pm Walk hills avec Malyon 7. VENDREDI S. Clotaire Paid 25 f 8. SAMEDI S. Albert Fancy Dress Football Match No 11 Genl Sgts Mess No 4 Genl Sgts Mess65 65Number 4 General Hospital had also recently moved to Dannes-Camiers: in their case in January 1916 from Versailles. 11. MARDI S. Léon Lena Ashwell at Y M C A 15. SAMEDI Ste Anastasie Receive first patients at Camiers 92 2 Sec on duty 21. VENDREDI VENDREDI-SAINT Good Friday Second Convoy of 92 Fire Alarm 23. DIMANCHE PAQUES Easter Day On duty 6.30 am H.C. Church Tent Great Football Match 18 Genl Hpl66 0 11 Genl Hpl 0 66Also based in Dannes-Camiers (1915-1917: the entire duration of its existence as taken over by US Army afterwards). 24. LUNDI S. Gaston Easter Monday Coy. Whist Drive Won 4th Prize (111) Top (114) 25. MARDI S. Marc, év Trial Cricket Match EWC 0 Convoy of 157 30. DIMANCHE QUASIMODO 6.30 am H.C. Church Tent 14614 aCpl A H Jones dies MAI 15. LUNDI Ste Denise Had several teeth out at 22 Genl Hpl67 67Based at Dannes-Camiers for its entire existence: 1915-1919. 18. JEUDI S. Venant Evans & Hamilton go to Isolation Hpl 20. SAMEDI S. Bernardin Celephane (?) awarded 7 days C.C. JUILLET 4. MARDI Ste Berthe 619 Admissions Very busy68 68The Battle of the Somme opened on July 1st. Nearly 60,000 British troops were casualties on that day and by the time the battle petered out on November 18th, over 400,000 British and Commonwealth troops had been casualties. 5. MERCREDI Ste Zoé 300?69 Discharges Up all night Beaucoup admissions 69The question mark is Ernest’s 6. JEUDI Ste Angèle Work again This is the final entry, written at a time of what must have been huge numbers of casualties passing through the RAMC’s hands. The final pages are themselves rather torn & dishevelled perhaps reflecting the conditions prevailing. One can only speculate as to the impact on the writer & his subsequent decision not to resume recording in the diary. From Appendix 3 it would seem that he was still based at Dannes-Camiers in June 1917. However he suffered damage to his lungs from a gas attack which suggests that subsequent to this date he was posted nearer the Front Line. He ended the War in Seale Haye Hospital, Newton Abbot, Devon which treated “other ranks” (i.e. non-officers) for neurological illnesses especially what was then referred to as “shell shock”: this again is evidence of a posting nearer the Front after June 1917. |
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