Tuesday 23rd April 1918

In tents and bivouacs at Stecchini.

Setting out at 9am, on a beautiful morning, the Battalion marched a further twelve miles west to new billets at Cornedo. They marched via Isola Vicentina, Malo and Cereda, where they went over a very steep hill which “was found too steep for transport, except by doubling the mules. Practically all transport was therefore sent via Il Tezzone”. They would remain at Cornedo for the next four weeks, occupied in general training and specifically in training for ‘hill fighting’.

Ptes. Roderick Harmer (see 27^th March), Samuel Smith (see 29^th October 1917) and Arthur Walter Williams (see 5^th October 1917) were reported by Sgt. Edward Arthur Myers (see 15^th April) for “not complying with an order, ie drinking on the line of march”; on the orders of Maj. William Norman Town (see 1^st March), they would be confined to barracks for seven days.

Pte. Walter Clarke (see 16^th December 1917) was admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance to 23^rd Division Rest Station suffering from diarrhoea; he would be discharged and return to duty a week later.

Pte. Albert Edward White (see 6^th April) was discharged from 23^rd Division Rest Station and re-joined the Battalion.

Pte. Horace Trinder (see 6^th February) was discharged from Merry Flats War Hospital, Govan, Glasgow and granted a period of leave before reporting to Northern Command Depot at Ripon.

A medical report was prepared in the case of L.Cpl. Walter Maynard Willis (see 16^th October 1917), who had spent the previous six months at the Lord Derby War Hospital, Warrington, being treated for acute mental illness. His condition was described as, “Mental condition very damaged. He is confused. Conversation incoherent. Memory defective. Ideas grandiose. Says he is the best billiard player in the world (he had worked as a billiard marker before the war) and a millionaire. His speech is very impaired. He is shaky and his walk is unsteady. Physical condition is poor. Wasserman reaction positive (the Wasserman test is an antibody test for the presence of syphilis).” It was recommended that he should be committed to an asylum.



A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. Frederick James Farthing (see 17^th October 1917), who had been killed in action in October 1917; his mother, Esther, was awarded 3s. 6d. per week.

A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. Frank Suckling (see 5^th March 1918), who had been killed in action in September 1917; his mother, Phoebe, was awarded 8s. 6d. per week.

The London Gazette published notice of the award of the Military Medal to Pte. Harry Gordon Binns (see 17^th January), serving in France with 1^st/4^thDWR; the circumstances under which Pte. Binns had been awarded the medal are unknown.