Arrived in Bivouac 3 a.m. commenced to rain at 6 am. & rained hard all day.
Major C.G.M.Blomfield, Captain Sir G.H.U.Lacon Bart., Capt. G.W.Cox (Royal Canadians), Lieut .A.C.Hoare, Lieut.G.H.Pollock,(4th S.Staffs)[South Staffordshire Regiment], 2nd Lieuts.A.C.Potter, R.E.Keller, H.J.Pownall, J.H.Bennett, R.R.Waters, I.K.Hamilton, J.R.Landon, J.C.Johnson, & 2nd Lieut.C.A.D.Lewis (4th S.Staffs) who had arrived on 9th inst. joined the Battalion today. 2nd Lieut. H.P.Blunt and 116 other ranks arrived from Base.
Following this diary with great interest as my family lived in Warwickshire at this time. Of the 15 officers who joined on 13th May 1915 four were killed within two months. Another three were killed in the Somme battles of 1916 and one more in May 1917. A fatality rate of 53%, and no doubt many others were wounded. I wonder how many of the 116 other ranks who joined that day survived the war.
But they fought on – an astonishing generation !