Lt Burnard, Royal Flying Corps WW1 diary
OTD 1918. Airman on Western Front with 35 Squadron, then prisoner of war. Ex-army #Somme #Passchendaele.
Sunday, June 30th. Just three months since I was shot down. Today is our famous one-meal day. It struck me as very comic today to see a Guards officer carrying away three potatoes on a plate from the dining hall, to be saved for his supper!! How are the mighty fallen!
If fasting is a real aid to prayer we should be very prayerful here.
Saturday, June 29th. Feeling absolutely fed up, very hungry and rather weak. We get two soups a day, usually very good, although thin, and about seven ounces of black bread. Today the soups happen to be particularly thin. A room commander today got three days cells because a member of his room was found lying on his bed, which is against local rules.
Friday June 28th. Visited dental hospital. They examined my teeth, and, as far as I could make out, determined to stop all three. I was rather surprised. I quite thought that my little ’erbert, my Landshut bugbear, was a goner. Adjourned until another day. Was remanded.
Waiting impatiently for letters and parcels: 3½ months since I’ve heard from home.
Thursday June 27th. Plucked up courage and went sick with my teeth. Have set in motion machinery from which I can’t escape. Shall probably go to Dental Hospital in a day or two; issue of a small number of biscuits and a little bully beef, sugar and tea. Talk about ambrosia!
Wednesday June 26th. Got from the canteen some stuff sent in barrels, called fish paste. Comic yellow stuff – seems to be a mixture of mussels, gherkins, sour ruben, garlic &c. Still my innards are not disposed to be too critical.
Later:- I misjudged my inside. It absolutely rebelled after three mouthfuls. Still, although I didn’t eat it, it went down well!! No sign yet of the biscuits or Red Cross parcels.
Tuesday June 25th. Getting into bed last night, putting my glasses on to a narrow ledge, I knocked off, I thought, my two studs down behind the ledge. One was a silver one which I got from Hanna before going on leave; and they are both as precious as gold, as they are so hard to get. I fumbled about behind the ledge, and searched in every hole and corner without result. I gave up the job in disgust, and proceeded to finish undressing, when I found them both. Still in my shirt! I think the Latin motto at the beginning of this diary is an ideal one for a pessimistic P.O.W. (prisoner of war)
〈Domi inopia, foris aes alienum,
Res mala, futurus multi asperior〉
〈At home want, abroad debts,
Things bad, future much worse〉
Great expectations from these Red Cross parcels which are supposed to be at the station.
Monday June 24th. Sent a post card to Copenhagen asking for bread. Tired of waiting for the Berne people: 2½ months now. Asked too, for a lb. of butter and a dozen eggs per week. I’ve got some hopes, I expect.
Schemes are on foot for starting classes in various subjects as soon as parcels arrive. Until then no one feels energetic enough to do any work. We can get out for walks once every ten days. At present few people take advantage of the privilege. They simply have not got the energy to spare. We’ve each been issued with a parole card, which we give up on leaving the camp. I’m going this afternoon. Joining the advanced French and a Spanish class if there be one. Later; walk washed out since fifty people could not be found willing to go. C.O. received invoice for a number of cases of grub from Copenhagen.
Sunday. June 23rd. Got a microscopic issue of jolly good margarine, cheese and jam. The cheese was a sort of cream cheese, but contained numbers of caraway seeds; which reminds me that almost all the soups and stews at Landshut contained more or less caraway. The better civilian bread contains it too.
I noticed on the journey on Friday that even in big country houses, the bedding and mattresses are hung out of the top windows to air in the morning sun.
Very disappointed at not finding Hanna here. Sent a postcard to Geneva asking that a wire should be sent home giving my change of address.
Saturday June 22nd. Our quarters here are not bad. Nine of us in a good sized room with large windows overlooking the downs. There are about seven hundred of us here altogether. Have applied to join an advanced French class, and an elementary Spanish one. Spent afternoon having a good hot shower, and in having my clothes baked – an unnecessary precaution fortunately. What a lot of things we’ve got used to during this war, and lately. Imagine someone suggesting to me in peace time that my clothes should be baked!
Friday June 21st. Arrived Posen about 9 am. but got no coffee. Given bowls of soup containing ‘wurst’ (see Hannover) at Bromberg, for which we had to line up in a queue, and which we had to eat on the platform, the cynosure of all eyes. Getting rather fed up with being stared at. We are now in Prussia, which is supposed to be pretty hard up for food. Arrived at Graudenz, our destination, at 7.30 pm. Marched to our permanent camp, which consists of half the barracks of the [German] 175th Infantry Regiment. Met there many infantry people whom we had left at Rastatt. They told us that the camp is a new one – and that the food, though better in quality, is even less in quantity than at Rastatt. What a hope! Moreover Hanna, although he was actually at Landshut while I was there, although in a different camp, was sent to Holzminden with several others, while the rest came on here. So that camp inspector was a liar! Please Heaven the parcels arrive soon. Hear that Rastatt improved considerably after we left – got an issue of five biscuits per person per day.