HLI Chronicle 1921 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

106
HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.
COMPANY NOTES.
"A" COMPANY NOTES.
AT the end of July the" sun shined on us" (metaphorically
speaking), and. we were ordered to move from
Surafend to Jaffa in relief of " B "Company. During
our lltay in Jaffa we have attained a remarkable state
of fitnilss, due to bathing in the blue and honnie
Meriterranean.
True the climate is somewhat sticky and relaxing,
and those mosquito nets at night don't make it any
cooler, but the proof of the fitness is to be seen in the
hospital returns and still more by our eheery, sun
tanned faces. We have become a sort of haven of rest
for the sick and weary from Surafend and Richon,
who come to revive their departed spirits. Our billet
is a large and not unpleasant building, which, standing
in the· German colony, once gloried in the name of
"Hotel du Pack." That was in its better days, before
the water svstem failed. Next door stands the German
Ghurch, a handsome building with a spire and (glory
of glories) a clock which works and strikes and has a
time all of its own. However, we make that time our
time, and so their is no excuse for being "late on
parade." And now all this has· come to pass, for toto-morrow
we move to Haifa. We don't know yet
whether to be glad or sorry, but will let you know
about that point in the next number of the" Chronicle."
Whatever our hopes may be about Haifa we certainly
are not looking forward to the journey, which will
entail a wait of some five and a half hours on the
platform at Ludd Junction. We ought to be in plenty
of time to catch our connection. And so now we will
close while that old "move feeling" is upon us­
" Glad of a change and hoping for the best."
A. LE G. C.
"B" COMPANY NOTES.
AGAIN we face the readers of the "Chronicle." but
this time a sad and doleful company of "Would it
not be fine if the sea were here." I forgot to mention
that we have moved from Jaffa to Richon Musketry
Camp--where we have only the conliolation of hearing
the waves at night.
I wonder if these wave,;; or the salt ~r affected the
eyesight of the Company, as according to the shooting
ha.lf of them were half blind and the other half totally
blind!
I am afraid that the old song, "Ask the markers
to help you"! did not succeed. Probably this was
on account of the way it was rendered. There were
other singers in the camp too !·-especially about
18.30 hours, when they got to the Madame JIIelba
stage.
Whilst we were in camp a 5·a,·side football tournament
took place. Eighteen tE'ams competed, and there
was great E'nthusiasm shown by E'veryone.. Great
credit is due to Lance-Corporal Lunney for organising
this competition and for the way it was carried out.
We must have another soon.
We also played the Prince of Wales Volunteers,
who 'were marking, and rather unfortunately beat
them. If we had let them win, perhaps--who knows!
Who were the two N.C.O.'s who took a " short" cut
from Jaffa into. a wilderness of sand? Clne of them
imagined that he saw a large village there. Other
people have seen it too-but they were aU coming
from Jaffa; perhaps this explains it! 'NWf said !
We have to compliment our Skipper on successfully
captaining the S. Palestine polo team at Kantam.
I wonder if it was the pawnbroker's sign on their
chests (three gold balls) that frightened everyone Y
I see one of our officers has bought a mare and a
foal. I wonder which he intends riding-anyway the
other will always be a spare mount.
We hope to have Lieut. Black back with us again.
Hope he will have more success with the Customs
this end. Of course, when he arrives we.,shall be aWe
to speak Ford once again, that is if there is anything
left of the car which he left behind when he went on
leave.
Much credit is due to our Company " Doctor" for
arranging the cricket match with "c" Company,
which, I'm glad to say, we managed to pull off sueem!!­
fully. The following were the scores :­
.. B" Company. "C" Company.
CaQt. Simmons 16 Scott 40
C..M.S. Lawson 13 Moss 2
Pte. Weaver 14 Bell 0
Redfem 0 Hudson 0
Rarrett 26 Handcock 0
Stuart 5 Thornton 240
Greenly 7 Winterbottom 4
West 0 M'Donald 15
Cole 0 M'Dowell 0
M'MiIlan 0 Edwards 6
Croney 1 Byes 22
ByllS " 15 Wides
6
Wides 6 No Balls 2
No Balls 0
Total 103 86
Captain Simmons was the crack bowler of our side,
taking 6 wickets for 43 runs, Pte. M'Donald doing the
damage for" C" Company.
We have now returned to Surafend-the land of
duties and sand. You should hear them moan, but
we can't grumble, for we have had quite a good time
of it for the last three months at least, and, with a
little -luck, we shall manage to get to Jaffa, to keep
in touch with the sea. Well, we will say adieu for
the present.
Promotions-:-To be Acting Sergeants-Cpls. Frost
and Cripps. Lance-Corporal-Pte. Ashurst.
A Batons Rompus.
"c" COMPANY NOTES.
ON tbe 27th Jnne "C" Company marched from
Surafend, and for the next month lived under canvas
at Richon-Ie-Zion, where the annual musketry course
was fired. The camp was surrounded by vineyards
and melon fields, so that there was a splendid supply
of fruit, which caused much pleasure and not a little
pain until the grapes were really ripe.
lt was a perfect range as regards light, but it took
a lot of work to make the targets turn round, and
Scrgeant MacGregor had great difiicultyisticking on
the paper with a mixture like cold porridge. However,
he turned out perfect targets for the classification
practice, and "c" Company think that they will
retain their placc at the top. Tablc..." A" average
was 125 and Table" B" 177.