Monday May 13th, 1918
Baths 8:30 – good bath. Very, very hot. More go down with Malaria. Mail up – no letters, very sorry indeed. Wiring on Commandant. 11:30 when finished. Tired out.
Business as usual
Frank once again has a good bath, more Tommies go down with malaria and Frank has no letters in the mail today. Both his entry and the Battalion’s mention the wiring work on the Commandant. So its business as usual.
On the Home Front
By contrast, the British newspapers¹ have a variety of interesting articles today. Several, once again, focus upon releasing more able-bodied men for service. It is worth noting that none are targeting men between 40 and 50 as enabled under the new legislation.
The Board of Agriculture has arranged to release 30,000 agricultural workers for active service. All have been deemed Grade I in respect of their fitness to serve. Additional labour will be found to replace them, including prisoners of war.
Similarly, the Board of Education have decided that all teachers and education officials who are Grade I and under 41 years old together with Grade II up to 31 years of age will be called to the colours. The catchment age for Grade II may be raised if required in the future.
The Bishop of St Asaph also made a statement to ‘guide both the clergy and laity of his diocese’, emphasizing that while a sixth of his clergy are already serving, he will help others who wish to join up. Three of them have already made the ‘ultimate sacrifice’.
There is also a large advertisement for a week of exhibitions in Manchester for all the women’s services (see image). The authorities are encouraging women’s recruitment to free up more men in the army, navy and airforce for front line duty.
Mother’s Day
Given the changing role of women during the war, The Guardian also has an interesting article about ‘Mothering Sunday’:
‘In the calendar of pretty customs yesterday was marked as ‘Mother’s Day’. It was instituted some years ago in America, and despite piteous counter-appeals from fathers, has remained nearly as unique and national a festival as Independence Day or Thanksgiving.
The idea is that on that day everyone possessing a mother should wear a white flower in her honour and should give her a little more consideration than usual. It is a pleasant fancy which leaves few people undecorated, and can hardly fail to effect an improvement, if only temporary, on filial manners. But strangely enough, the custom has never found favour in this country, and ‘Mother’s day’ has passed almost unnoticed.’¹
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 13th May 1918 – Saida
A proportion of the screening work has now been knocked off and the work on Commandant is being concentrated upon.
References & Further Reading
¹ Various articles in ‘The Guardian’ May 13th, 1918
* Advert appeared in ‘The Guardian’, image may be subject to copyright