Saturday 27th January 1917

Billets in the Infantry Barracks in Ypres

Working parties were again provided with conditions generally quiet, though freezing cold.

Pte. Ernest Wilson (11751) (see 7^th January) was discharged from 23^rd Division Rest Station and re-joined the Battalion.

L.Cpl. Reyner Sutcliffe (see 6^th October 1916), who had been in England since having suffered wounds to his right arm and buttocks in October 1916, was discharged from the Lord Derby War Hospital in Warrington.

After six weeks in hospital suffering from influenza, Pte. Albert John Start (see 11^th December), who had been attached for duty to the heavy branch of the Machine Gun Corps, was discharged from hospital and posted to 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples; it was confirmed that he was deemed fit only for Base Duties.

CSM Billy Oldfield MM (see 8th December 1916) completed and submitted his application for a commission.

CSM Billy Oldfield MM

Image by kind permission of Henry Bolton

2Lt. Charles Archibald Milford (see 23^rd January), was appointed as an Assistant Anti-Gas Instructor based at Etaples.

In advance of his next appearance before a Medical Board, 2Lt. John Keighley Snowden (see 28^th December 1916), who had been wounded at Le Sars, prepared a statement of his current situation: “I was wounded at Le Sars on October 4^th 1916, while serving with 10th Duke of Wellington's. During an attack on this date an enemy bomb landed within a yard of my side. I was operated on at the Casualty Clearing Station and pieces of the bomb (wood) were removed from my left leg and from my head just behind the right ear. A portion of my right ear was blown off. I was removed to England and placed in the 2^nd Southern General Hospital, Bristol. As the result of the explosion I am now suffering from deafness in my right ear. After three months sick leave I find little signs of improvement in my hearing”.