Friday 30th August 1918

In Brigade reserve camp near Cavalletto.

Lord Cavan presented medal ribbons for the awards arising from the raid on the Vaister Spur. 2Lt. Bernard Garside (see 26^th August) recalled that, “the general had a parade of those on the raid and congratulated us all on killing about 70 Austrians and capturing many more. He said the machine gun barrage against us had been one of the heaviest the Battalion had known, even in France”. 

Maj. Edward Borrow DSO (see 29^th August), referred to the event with great pride in a letter home to his wife, (I am very grateful to Dr. Bendor Grosvenor for allowing me access to Maj. Borrow's letters), “The Dukes came into their own today all right! No less than 39 decorations were awarded to the Battalion for the raid I told you about the other day and no less a personage than the Commander in Chief himself came along and presented them! In the raid we established a record for the number of prisoners taken by any one Battalion in the Division and now we’ve established another by receiving so many decorations. Not even for the 20^th of September (1917)did we get so many, although of course that was a much worse show, but here we had the field to ourselves. Do you remember my telling you of a certain captain who got two M.C.’s in a week in the September show? (Capt. John Edward Lennard Payne MC, see 26^th August) He now got a D.S.O. to stick up beside it. The Dukes are top dog now and the talk of the whole Expeditionary Force. Everybody is awfully bucked. Unfortunately, instead of having brilliant sunshine for the presentation, we had a typically wet mountain mist, a forewarning of what winter up here must be like. … Raids are all right but there are some mothers in England mourning the disappearance of their boys and there’s another promising young man who will go about with a wooden foot for the rest of his life”.

Maj. Edward Borrow DSO

Pte. John Bayliss (see 19^th August), who had been held in confinement for ten days having been reported for sleeping whilst on sentry duty, was released and resumed normal duties pending a date for his trial.

Pte. George Ingle (see 28^th August 1917) was admitted to 71^st Field Ambulance, suffering from diarrohea.

Pte. Ellis Sutcliffe (see 27^th March), who had been taken prisoner in March while serving with 2^nd/5^th DWR, died from pleurisy at a German hospital in Caudry; he would be buried in the German military cemetery at Caudry, north-west of Le Cateau.

L.Cpl. Stanley Basil Studd (see 3^rd May), serving in France with 2^nd/4^th DWR, was wounded in action, suffering shrapnel wounds to his left thigh; he would be admitted via 14^th Field Ambulance and 38^th Casualty Clearing Station to 1^st Australian General Hospital in Rouen. Five days later he would be evacuated to England onboard the Hospital Ship Margueritte; on arrival in England he would be admitted to the North Staffordshire Infirmary in Stoke on Trent.

L.Cpl. Alfred Edward Wybrow MM (see 2^nd June), serving in France with 2DWR, was wounded in action, suffering a wound to his left heel. He would be admitted via 10^th Field Ambulance to 3^rd Australian General Hospital at Abbeville and from there evacuated to England on 3^rd September, travelling onboard the Hospital Ship Newhaven. On arrival in England he would be admitted to 3^rd Northern General Hospital in Sheffield.

Pte. Fred Kershaw (see 17^th June), serving in France with 2/7^th DWR, was wounded in action, suffering gunshot wounds to both thighs; he would be admitted via 14^th Field Ambulance and 3^rd Casualty Clearing Station to 12^th General Hospital at Rouen.

Pte. Sam Tinkler (see 25^th August), who was home on leave while serving in France with 54^th Company, Labour Corps, married Edith Rice, in a service in Bradford.

Eastwood Wilkinson (see 17^th November 1917), who had been discharged from the Army due to wounds in November 1917, underwent a medical examination in Halifax. The report stated that, “Healed scar, underside of right hand. Scar in palm between 4^th and 5^th metacarpals. Little finger flexed and protrudes between 2^nd and 3^rd. Grip of index finger and thumb good. Amputation of little finger recommended.” His degree of disability was considered to have reduced from 40% to 30% and his pension would be adjusted accordingly.

A payment of £3 2s. 5d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Herbert Butterworth (see 27^th November 1917), who had been killed in action in November 1917 while serving with 2/6^thDWR; the payment would go to his father, Henry. 

A payment of £2 9s. 2d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Ernest Needham (see 20th September 1917), who had been officially missing in action since September 1917; the payment would go to his father, Matthew.