Sunday ~
Very early rise ~ 05.00 hrs planned to be out on the site by 06.30 ~
A; beat the Heat ~
B; Beat the PM storms
C; Missed Saturday and I had to work midnight Sunday ~ So planned to be home again by 13.00 hrs!
All good plans went slightly pear shaped ~ and delayed talking to the better half ~ On site 07.30 ~ Probably for the best as it was a Pea souper fog early !
I opted for a well worn area and lunged into the brush ~ to my utter horror ~ The March flies are in plague numbers! ~
The Diggers and even colonials of the 19th Century MUSt have been utterly devastated by these insidious creatures ~
Major General E J Milford, General Officer Commanding 7 Division (6), inspecting 2/4 Field Regiment troops at the Kairi Sports Ground.
Identified: VX14125 Major Hugh St Omer Dentry, Brigade Major Royal Artillery (1); Lieutenant Lyall, Aide de camp, General Officer Commanding (2); Lieutenant Colonel Blythe, Commanding Officer 2/4 (3);
Captain Hume, Battery Commander, B Battery (4);
Brigadier O'Brien, Commander Royal Artillery, 7 Division (5);
Major General Milford (6); Gunner H Pfeffer, 8 Battery (7); Lance Bombardier K Goodnew, 8 Battery (8); Gnr R Francis, 8 Battery (9); Bdr F Minchin, 8 Battery (10); VX14468 Sergeant Ray Edward Harle, 8 Battery (11); Sgt N Radcliffe, 8 Battery (12).
I had 'Bushman's 40% Deet spray ' on and they simply ignored it ~ But fortunately I was well covered and the little Barstards essentially landed but ''cleared off ' very quickly ~
My luck was rewarded though the very first strong signal revealed a Superb 1943 Florin ~
Inspired I kept on ~ despiet the March Flies ~ and these are 'Yellow' versions and infamous for the wrong reasons. In fact the sods hammered my right hand first finger which is the gripping hand on the Minelab ~
And hammer they did. I even saturated the gloves with DEET but the were not deterred ~ almost like they could smell blood!
( End of the day I had some 11 bites on the same finger and back of my right hand ~ but no where else !!! ??)
I managed a few scores ~ including an Officer's razor ~ i.e. Much more ornate handle ~
The large iron piece is a door lock and the brass key broken off in the lock assembly!
1943 Florin KG VI
1942 Six pence KG VI
1943 1 /2 penny KG VI
I plugged on as planned and the storms started to build ~ then called it a day ~ I was home 12.45 !
But the bites made a Hell of a mess of my right hand ~ and only today Tuesday are they receding any ~ Several bites on my lower legsare very nasty and are more insidious ~ as huge welts ~
But I will survive ~ The Diggers suffered these things in tents with no AC or relief ~
KAIRI, QUEENSLAND. 1945-02-13. "LAUGHING WATER", A 25 PDR GUN BEING MAINTAINED BY 8 BATTERY, 2/4 FIELD REGIMENT TROOPS DURING THE VISIT BY THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA TO TO ROYAL AUSTARLIAN ARTILLERY UNITS IN THE 7 DIVISION AREA. IDENTIFIED PERSONNEL ARE:- GUNNER M. GEBBIE, (1); STAFF SERGEANT MCKEOWN, (2); SERGEANT HARLE, (3); GUNNER HART, (4); CRAFTSMAN HEANE, (5); LIEUTENANT W.H. JONES, (6).
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