Monday 18th March 1918

Billets at Marola

It was during the stay at Marola that the red, white and blue ribbon of the 1914-15 star was issued to all troops who had been abroad before 1^st January 1916; active service chevrons were also issued – red for 1914 and blue for other years, with one being issued for going abroad and one more for each full years service.

Pte. Walter James Biddle (see 5^th January) was reported by L.Cpl Howarth Reid (see 12^th October) as “unshaven on parade”; on the orders of Capt. Dick Bolton MC (see 11^th March) he would be confined to barracks for four days.

Pte. Frank Easterby (see 5^th January) was admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance to 23^rd Division Rest Station, suffering from scabies.

L.Cpl. Herbert Newton (see 8^th January) and Ptes. Joseph Leonard Holmes (see 9^th January), Henry Charles Lindsay (see 18^th February) and Arthur Wood (29040) (see 2^nd February) were posted back to France from 3DWR at North Shields; they were originally to have joined 9DWR but would instead be re-posted to other Dukes battalions. Holmes and Lindsay were posted to 2DWR and Newton and Wood to 5DWR. Newton also reverted to the rank of Private.

Pte. Matthew Woodward (see 4^th February), serving with 297^th Labour Company, Labour Corps, was posted back to France.

Pte. James Wilson (see 7^th February), who had been serving in East Africa as a lorry driver with the Motor Transport Section of the ASC, was transferred from hospital in Dar es Salam to South Africa onboard the hospital ship Takada.

A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. Arthur Prestwood (see 26^th February), who had died of wounds on 22^nd September 1917; his widow, Elsie, was awarded 22s. 11d. per week for herself and her two children.


A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. Peter James Sheehan (see 3^rd March 1917) who had been killed in action in October 1916; his father, Michael, was awarded 6s. per week, to be backdated to 19^th July 1917.