Click here for diary entry for Monday September 1st 1941 – Monday September 8th 1941
Tuesday September 9th
157th Day
Still on usual digging. Boys becoming very brown – working with only shorts on. Nowhere to go at night. Flares dropped in distance – believe over Alexandria.
Wednesday September 10th
158th Day
Usual work during morning. Left camp at 12.15PM in lorries for swim. Journey took nearly three hours each way. Med. sea beautifully clear and cool, lovely sand. Terrible dusty on return trip to camp. Company canteen & YMCA both opened tonight.
Thursday September 11th
159th Day
Continuing work. Finding many scorpions under rocks. At night YMCA Mobile cinema showed “Charlie Chan at Race Course” (sic). Theatre sloping side of sand hill. Had trouble finding tent in darkness. Black out. No moon.
Friday September 12th
160th Day
Still digging – making good progress in hard rocks – blasting at times. Went to YMCA at night.
Saturday September 13th
161st Day
Brigadier Hargood inspected tank traps. Promised to have tanks try them out. Beginning to get tired of same thing every day. Do alright on water ration. Caught 5ft snake.
Sunday September 14th
162nd Day
Church parade. Hargood spoke to us about our positions. Went to sea for swim. Terribly dirty and bumpy ride. Returned at 6.30PM. Med Sea lovely and blue, much cooler than at Ismailia & Kabrit.
Monday September 15th
163rd Day
Continued digging. Blasting most of time. Very hot day. Clocks put back 1 hour at night.
Click here for diary entry for Tuesday September 16th 1941 – Thursday September 25th 1941
14 Weeks Worth of Socks 
Usually I can’t make out ANY of the words your grandad writes, but perhaps on the 161st day it is ??? ??? thrown out… The word before thrown looks like big or rig or something with _ig, can’t quite make it out to fit context. Hope this helps…
I think its “Brigadier Hargood inspected tank traps. Promised to have tanks try them out. ” I’ve just updated it 🙂 I appreciate any help with missing words or if I have made errors or typos. Its really hard to read and the original isn’t any easier – squinting at the page works just as well as the screen (in that it doesn’t 🙂 )
Yes, it is difficult, kudos for such a valiant effort on your part! And I think your correct now that I see what you’ve written, which is always easier, right! 🙂
We have some “fun” entries coming up, to transcribe I mean. I suspect once I’ve done this diary, I will probably be able to go back and complete some of the mystery entries.
[…] Click here for diary entry for Tuesday September 9th 1941 – Monday September 15th 1941 […]
[…] Click here for diary entry for Tuesday September 9th 1941 – Monday September 15th 1941 […]