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2nd Cpl. Henry Charles Pether
Australian Imperial Forces 60th Railway Coy. 1st Railway Section. Australian Engineers
from:Tumut, New South Wales
Charlie Pether set sail from Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, 8th of February 1917 aboard the HMAT A18 Wiltshire bound for Plymouth, England via Durban, Freetown and Capetown. He arrived on Wednesday, 11th of April 1917. He was transferred to Connaught Hospital, Aldershot on Friday, 13 April, arriving at 3 pm, according to his war diary. He describes the hospital as 'hut with about 20 beds and a heater in the middle' and notes that it was the first time in 9 weeks that he has slept in sheets. In another entry he mentions there were rows of huts for the sick who were in part quarantine and that their clothes had been fumigated and stored for them. The breakfast of porridge, tea and a slice of bread is very meagre. He and about 40 other men were treated for scabies. The other meals noted in his diary are just tea and toast or milk and bread - no meat - and he longs for a decent meal. There are several pages of his diary not completed but apparently he was due to be discharged on Monday, 16 April.
