This, I remember, was the occasion upon which I first met John Bodington, who had just returned to the Battalion, from leave I suppose.  He was then second-in-command of D Company, and did not possess a single ribbon.  Few could have guessed what a remarkable military future lay before him.  “I should guess he’s about the luckiest fellow that ever dodged a 5.9,” remarked a friend, now on the Rhine, who wrote to me the other day (August 11, 1919).

“It simply poured on the way back.  I was drenched to the skin.  I do not think I have ever had such a drenching before.  The ground was thick with mud and slush.  We were all horribly dirty.  It was 2 p.m. when we got back.  I took off my things and had them dried by the fire.  The people in this billet are really very decent indeed.  I went to bed for an hour.  Then tea.  At 6 we had a lecture on the compass, by Major Brighten.”

“June 23rd.

“Reveille was not quite so early as usual this morning.  We did not march off from here until 8 a.m.  We then went, in battle-order, to the training area.  While there I saw, through my field-glasses, General Sir Hubert Gough, Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Watts, Major-General Jeudwine, and Brigadier-General Stockwell, on horseback, together with a whole crowd of staff-officers, on the crest of a hill some distance away.  They were too far off for their faces to be distinguishable; but I knew that they were the above-mentioned generals because Major Brighten told us yesterday that they were coming.  They were inspecting the training.

“The weather to-day has been very nice—­sunshine, yet neither too hot nor too cold.  We got back at 2.  Then lunch.  I then went to the farm the other side of the hill for some milk.  Then tea.  Then bombing.  Then dinner.  Then letter-writing.  Now bed!

“Would you mind sending me a Lancashire Fusilier cap badge?  Excuse me asking for something fresh in every letter, but Colonel Best-Dunkley has conceived the brilliant idea that our battalion should set an example to the rest of the Brigade—­’lead the way,’ as he calls it—­by having cap badges in our steel helmets as well as in our soft hats.  Of course with such devices we cannot fail to defeat the enemy next time we encounter him!  What a life!

“We are hoping, but scarcely daring to expect, that a somewhat easier day will be ours to-morrow, Sunday!”

“June 24th.

“I did not get up until 9 this morning.  Church parade was at 10.  The service was, of course, taken by Newman....  The service was held in the field which is the Battalion parade ground.  After the service the padre had a communion service in a corner of the field for those who wished to stay.  About twenty men stayed, and the following officers—­Colonel Best-Dunkley, Allen, Gratton, Giffin and myself.  The padre had a miniature oak altar, containing a crucifix, with two lighted candles, on a table.