June 30, 1916
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We passed Amiens at 7 a.m., the country hereabouts being rather poor. Tommies now appeared more frequently and we soon met with a few Australians making us feel quite at home. We soon approached the coast and met with some misty and cool weather. The train now slowed up considerably and we crawled through Boulogne and Calais without seeing much of either town however, and eventually stopped at Theinnes 5.30 p.m.
I was orderly Sergeant for the day and for the next two hours had plenty of running about. Our interpreter met us and showed us the billets provided. They consisted of barns with plenty of straw for the men to sleep on. We were all accommodated within a radius of 500 yards, 50 being in one barn, 80 in another, and so on. Officers were billeted in houses and the sergeants had a small barn to themselves who also arranged for a room in the village for the purpose of a mess.
It was amusing to listen to the attempts at French by various members of the party. By 8 o’clock all was fixed up, fatigue parties had unloaded waggons, carried firewood for the cooks, etc., etc., and all were happy. An air raid could be seen by a large number of aeroplanes some distance away, the puffs of shrapnel bursting all amongst them. This same night we heard the guns booming for the first time.