On returning to our camp, I found that it had been moved closer to the village of Glesy, our old encampment being handed over to the battalion of American troops which had recently come into the area. For the succeeding six days, I did very little except attend to the duties of camp which were allotted to me and when not so engaged, spent a good deal of time in swimming in the swiftly flowing Somme Canal which ran by within a few yards of where we were camped. It was here also that my old friend, Lt. J. Smith, who had been wounded in the leg at Hangard returned, looking very fit after his few week’s spell in England.

On July 20th, 1918, Lt. Smith and I were detailed to conduct a draft of men to the reserve positions occupied by our battalion near what was known as the Railway Cutting in the Aubigny system of trenches near Villers Bretoneaux. On arrival we reported to head quarters and were again taken on the strength of “B” coy under Lt. C. Cameron. For the following three days, we got what rest and sleep we could between the bursts of shells, which continually fell in the vicinity of our position and at night time we were engaged in laying a line of cable across the Brigade sector in front of Villers Bretoneaux. At nightfall, the fatigue parties were fallen in and armed with rifles, plus a bandolier of S.A.A. and were marched by a rather tortuous route through the shell wrecked village, out into the area immediately behind our own front line.