Tuesday 12th February 1918

Front line trenches on the Montello, between roads 14 and 19.

Another fine day.

It seems likely that it was during this tour in the line that a number of incidents occurred which 2Lt. Bernard Garside (see 27^th January) would later relate in the memoir he wrote for his young niece and nephew, 

“It was on the Piave too I first had bullets flying near me. I had gone down to the front line and was standing reading my map and looking round me on the top of the trench, for I loved maps then and do now. Suddenly I heard something twanging the wires just in front of me and heard an aeroplane up above. I realised pretty soon that our guns were firing and it and the bullets were dropping practically on me. You bet I soon got into the trench. Of course they would only have given me a nasty knock on my steel helmet, but still … Another incident shows you the kind of pranks soldiers can play on each other. Our Company Commander, going visiting our sentries in the front line one night, found a sentry from the next Company nodding. He cried, “Hands up!” and then showed him how neglectful he was. The sentry told some sort of yarn about this which made his Company’s officers think it was a dirty trick, so they were wild. Next night, our Company Commander had to go on a patrol and cross the shingle, and the Company next door knew this, so they pretended they thought the noise heard was the Austrians and fired their Lewis guns just over his head, scaring him badly. The Officer who did this was called Airey (2Lt. Stephen Brown Airey, see 9th October 1917), and came from Skipton and your Mummy knows him”.

L.Cpl. Ernest Gee (see 28^th December 1917), who had been in England since having been wounded on 20^th September 1917, was posted from Northern Command Depot at Ripon to 3DWR at North Shields.

Lt. Harold Lockhart Waite (see 12^th December 1917), who had served with the Battalion from its creation until being transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in May 1916, appeared before a further RFC Medical Board, having been wounded in August. He was declared unfit for active service for a further two months, but fit for home service, though with no flying. He was posted to duty at the Royal Flying Corps' No. 5 School of Military Aeronautics at Denham.

A payment of £2 14s. 3d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late L.Cpl. George William Foster (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his father, Holmes. His father would also receive a parcel of his personal effects comprising of, “wallet, photos, cards, mirror”.

A payment of £2 11s. 11d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Thomas Henry Swift (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his father, Thomas.

A payment of £2 1s. 8d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Arthur Thornton (see 21st October 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his widow, Edith.

A payment of £1 5s. 11d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. John Joseph Walker (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his mother, Sarah.