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Aug 19th, That’s the worse night I think I ever had in my life, my back, head, and legs all ache, can’t lay, down or sit for long. Much better tonight. Len is like me. Bill and Les have done all the litter jobs that have to be done.
This is what we want; some letters and cards have just come in, to send home, to my darling Mary, this is the third, all that I’ve had.
Aug 20th make a pudding, made of bread, stewed apples, b utter and milk, was o.k.
Aug 21st Boxing show tonight, good show. Heard rumour that France as been invaded, hope its true and let’s get out of this hole.
Aug 22nd Debate. Subject is the cinema harmful to the child’s mind. Vote,(No)
Sunday 23rd Coffee in bed. Roll call 8.a.m. 10 — 1p.m. I print some choruses out for later services. Meat for dinner. 9.30.p.m. Wonder what you are doing darling. How I miss you these times, have a lovely service, its now thundering and lightening. The Officer that was wounded has died to day; some poor wives and mothers hearts will be broken. Am now going to bed and dream of my two precious darlings, God bless you both.
Mon 24th Have hair cut, but not all off this time, have a good wash, and again debugged. Everybody in the camp has lice or fleas, and can’t get rid of them.
Aug 25th Thunder and lightening, downpour of rain reminds me of England. First time I’ve seen rain through windows since I left home. Have a bread pudding
Aug 26th POW news, what tripe! Good boxing show. Jock judged best fight of the night. More letters and cards come in, send one to Mary and Mother. Wonder when I’ll get one?
Aug 27th Our little darling Julie’s birthday, God bless her. All I can send this time is love and kisses. Mail has started to come in from England. Peach issue has come in, 3 each — Moorish.
Aug 28th Debate. Should capital punishment be abolished (vote No)
Aug 29th Wash shirt. Saturday seven years ago today, but not the date was the happiest day of my life when I married the best girl in the world.. How different was that day to this, and how you will be thinking about it my love, I can picture that day, as if it was yesterday, and what a happy days we have had since darling. Never mind love there’s more to come please God. Remember dear, how it thundered and lightened that night. Instead of your company in bed tonight I shall have bugs and fleas. Sunday go to 8.45 a.m. service. Do you remember dear that Sunday we went to hear Rev Saunters, also had chicken for dinner. Today I think it was donkey! Had coffee in bed this morning
Mon 31st Today is our wedding anniversary, I’ve not been able to spend it with you dear, but my thoughts have been, more than ever (if possible) with you this weekend. I have been lucky today. First its been parcel day, so I’m going to celebrate, I’ve saved a little bread up (which takes some doing).. I have also won 40 cigs in a raffle, its like this, there are 50 cigs to a parcel, but sometimes a tin of tobacco instead, who ever gets it, raffles it for a cig a time, I won the tin and exchanges it to Len for 40 cigs. Wash my KD shorts but it’s a job in cold weather. Walk round the camp three times, then go to bed, thinking of you dear and seven years ago.
I will go through this week’s meal. Starting.
Monday — 7.30am half a pt coffee 10.30a.m quarter of a loaf and small ration of cheese. 4 p.m. macaroni or rice, and greens, mostly the tops, one and three quarters of a pint of that, half of it water.
Tuesday Pay 11 lire, 7a.m. Half a pt of coffee, 10a.m. Bread and cheese, 11.30a.m. Three small tomatoes 4.a.m. macaroni, hot water is supplied each day, for brewing, which is either tea or cocoa, out of parcels. Soap issue, issue us with a towel or a piece of rag, Debate, is the old fashioned night-gown, better than pyjamas. Buy four peaches out of the canteen, they are the size of a vic plum, but good.
Wednesday. Meals same as Tuesday. Two roll calls per day, just a count up. Not a long job, but sometimes there is a name by name roll call, and that’s a long do, four to six hours. Have good wash and debug, it is a game keeping me awake at night. Send you a letter and card darling. Some more of the lads get mail from England. Good boxing show to night. The song about flies in Italy sure is true there are thousands of them, and it’s a job keeping them off what bit of food we have.
Sept 3rd Lovely day, one hardly needs any clothes on. Three years ago today, another day I remember, listening to Mr Chamberlain’s speech, declaring war on Germany. Coffee 7.a.m. Bread and meat salad instead of cheese 10.30a.m. Also at 11.a.m. we get an issue of melons, they are moorish. 4.a.m. Macaroni. Go to service.
Sept 4th POW news tells us of how disastrous it is for the British. Meals same as Tuesday could eat the same three times over. Debate, Is the woman’s place at home or in the business world. Answer (at home) Write a few hymns out have a tin mug made.
Sept 5th Meals same as Tues. Make a set of dominoes out of matchboxes. Have a good wash
Sunday 6th Go to service 8.45a.m. More mail but none for me yet. Evening service 7.p.m. Coffee 7a.m. Meat and melons 11.a.m. rice 4.a.m.
Sept 7th Our section doing fatigues, so get the back issue parcels. Have a go at drawing the view outside the camp, which are all hills and mountains. At the time of writing Mount Vesureous, which is a noted Mountain, is smoking, The town of Capua is on the west side of us, with mountains as a back ground.
Sept 9th Boxing not so good. Send a letter dear. Debate. Should blood sports be abolished? Answer No. Have a good wash.
Everybody happy again, parcels up. Have a throat swap. Some of the chaps have to go into the isolation. Nice service, and some good singing.
Sept 10th Itie cig issue 40 A01 Pay 10 lira. Would love a little bigger, but not enough to go round, so will have to go back to the same size.
Sept 11th. Getting dark earlier now, also cooler, Oh this weekend, I am thinking more of home, and wishing I was. Could do with a good feed. Sing- song in our hut tonight, it livens things up a bit. One year ago today we were at Capetown, how different to this pitshole, plenty to eat, and room to roam about free.
Still Sunday, go to 8.45.a.m. 2.0.p.m. wonder what you are doing darling; I can picture you in many ways, getting Julie ready for Sunday School, how I bet she’s altering, and getting clever.
Mon12th Wish I’d some soap to exchange for bread off the guards, they like English soap, you ought to see theirs. Got a choir now, sing anthems jolly good
Sept 14th. 2700 men move out, but I’m not one of them. Feel miserable to night, no parcels in, and everything seems so quiet now this lot has gone.
Sept 15th. A name roll call. Parcels come; faces brighten up once again. Apples in canteen, but poor things. Good dinner tonight. Hear good news, big raids over Germany. Commander raid on Tobruk. Hear that Bill Bows is POW in Italy. He was in the Regiment that we were under. Go to bed thanking God for a better and more cheerful day.
Sept 16th. Start off well again. Free issue of grapes, the first we have had in Italy. Go to M.O with sores on my hands. Len gets stung. Issue of 25 cigs, have been trying to save a packet so I could get a loaf with it, manage to get one, so extra feed tonight. Also apple pudding out of parcel.
Sept 17th. Parcel, my turn for soap. Wash my one and only shirt, it will soon be done.
Sept 18th. Have a book out of library, called The Ladder of Swords, by Gilbert Parker. Debate. -Is temperament more essential than love. Answer —Love.
Sept 19th. Have a pint of porridge. Still lovely weather. Boil on thigh.
Sunday. We have a padre for the first time. Holy Communion. See M.O with boil and sores.
Sept 21st. Canadian parcels for first time. Butter in it and dried milk, raison, prunes, choc, cheese, corn-beef, meat roll, biscuits, tea, sugar,salmon, sardines, jam and marmalade.
Sept 22nd Make a Kit Bag. Had a prune pudding last night made with, bread, prunes, milk, and butter. O.K. Rain in night. Concert.
Sept 23rd. Make another Kit Bag, and sell it for some cheese. Talk of moving.
Sept 24th. Mincepies in canteen, just little ones, but in English money seven and a halfpence. Rainy day. Stand by for moving. Send you a letter dear; hope you are getting them by now. Still plenty of bugs.
Sept 25th/ Men looking smart now, those who where short have got rigged up, some have got knee breeches. I got a shirt, no socks to be had, hardly anybody has any, I don’t wear any, I've got a pair, but they are all darns. Keeping them for later.
Sept 26th. Got issued with a pair of pants and two pieces of cloth to be used for socks. Send cable home with new address on.
Sept 27th. Getting ready for moving.
Sept 28th. Arise 5.0a.m. coffee 5.30. All rush. As we go through the gate, I get my coat taken off me at last. It has served me well though. Ration for the loaf tin of bully. So we leave Capua at 8.0.a.m. Walk to Station, and go by train to Farra Sabina . Lovely scenery, mostly mountains, but very little agricultural land, few hayfields and fields of vines. Oxen pulling ploughs and carts. Mules and Donkeys, never seen a horse yet. Arrive Farra Sabina 6.30.p.m. Raining and walking three miles to camp, which was just a field of mud, what a welcome, wet through, mud up to the knees, nearly dark, lose my mates, and lose my cap! I spend the night in a little wooden hut, sleep on concrete floor
Sept 29th. Morning-Mud is the first thing to see get sorted out. Find my mate. Big tents of canvas. 68 men per tent. 12.p.m. mid-day, get some macaroni, first meal, so that quarter lbs. loaf and bully had to last 30 hours, don’t know when we shall get parcels, there’s none in camp.
Sept 30th. Double-Decker beds again, I’m on the top this time, cold last night in bed, have only one blanket. There are two camps here, 400 yards separating them, nearly 2000 in each. The Ities are busy building huts, hope they have them up before bad weather sets in. This place is 20 from Rome. We passed by the outskirts as we came here. Hot during day, cool at night.
Oct 1st. Hot, flies won’t leave you alone. Chaps out of next camp come and give us a concert, with band, good actors, and singers, (very good).
Oct 2nd; Red Cross man here today, hope he gets some parcels here soon. The scenery here is again mountains, can see a little village perched on the top of on of the small ones in the distance. Lovely sunsets. This camp is built on a deep slope. A green field at the bottom, but there’s a wire between us and that. The Mutual Aid has got going and things are better already. Water system bad, have to fill dishes and get washed out of it. Yet one year ago we arrived at Kassasin. No parcels yet. Concert up tonight, after having a concert ot services we always finish up by singing God Save The King, but the Ities order us today that we are not to sing any National Anthem anymore.
Oct 4th. 100 men start work on the building. Bricklayers, and Joiners and Labourers, they get double rations, but it’s not worth it
Oct 5th. Feel real homesick, cold at nights, hungry and the days seem longer here. Good old parcels come at last, how they cheer us up.
Oct 6th. 9.a.m. Just got washed, and debugged, have to debug two or three times each day, the place is lousy. Have got a book to read Death in five boxes. POW news comes.
Oct 7th. Hope parcels come regular, I’m never full. History talks given by a South African.
Oct 8th. An interesting talk by R.C Padre on The Tower of London. Hope all the sermons we here are true, things going well in Libia. Hitler want peace with Russia. Parcels tomorrow, but doubt it myself. Finish reading book. Feel better tonight, it’s been parcel day, the biscuits and chocs make a meal, also had some grapes. Give my false teeth in to be repaired.
Oct 9th. Raining all day, what a mud heap. Send you a letter and card.
Oct 10th. A talk on A Travel through Albrennia.
Oct 11th.Service taken by South African padre. Sermon about the life of St John. Talk on NewZealand, very interesting
Oct 12th. Attend class taken by the Padre on, the History of the Bible. Do a little work, carrying wood for the trench fires, get an extra loaf for it. These trench fires are for boiling water, for brews. We have a long piece of wire, with a tip or discs on the end, and hold it over the flames, sometimes it doesn’t burn very well, and smoke gets in your eyes ,Always a crowd round it, somebody upset a tin, and on the hole, it’s a grim do. We have four drinks a day now. Still get the Itie coffee at 7.a.m. and three brews from what we get out of the parcels, times are 10.am 2.0a.m. and 7 p.m. Got a loaf off guard in exchange for a bar of soap. Next compound give us a concert with band. A talk on Westminster Abbey by the R.C. Padre. Can still go about during the day without a shirt, boots and socks, but cold at nights. I go without boots and socks to save them for bad weather.
Oct 13th. A new Major takes charge of us. He says he will improve the camp and food if we are good boys. A sergeant got 28 days in jail for stealing food off his own mates. The jail is a piece of ground wire off in one corner of the compound, in a little canvas tent.
Oct 14th. Talk of boxing by Tony Mason, a boxer.
Oct 15th. Get six apples each. Talk on Madam Tussards by R.C. Padre, this chap sure knows some stuff. Send you a letter dear. We always have to date them, a week ahead, that’s because they are in the camp a week.
Oct 16th. Cold in night, be glad when I get another blanket. An unexpected surprise, get issue of tins sweets. (Latest sermon War over three days ago, we sure get em)
Oct 18th Sunday Have a Yorkshire pudding, Oh boy, was it good. Thanks to Red Cross. Parcels again, the men in the camp have gone real thin, rings come off, belts have to be tightened up, and faces look drawn in. Our group are duty section, that means we carry the grub pot out, clean the tent up, and a little job that comes along, attend evening service.
Oct 19th Les and I get quarter of marrow, what the farmers have brought in.
Oct 20th Ities start digging foundations of brick building.
Oct 21st R.C Oardre gives talk on The Royal Family. Grape issue. Rain at roll call time, thunder and lightening. Parcel each. All the boxes are undone, all the tins taken out and a knife stabbed in.
Oct 24th Red Cross men come in and have a look round
Oct 25th Plenty of mud around. The Red Cross have sharpened the Ities up a bit. Those who have not had mail yet have to give their names in, and home addresses. Our camp band gives their first concert. Cold now at nights, two or three hours during the day are hot.

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