Pte Arthur Thomas (Lilydale), 1^st Machine Gun Battalion: In the front line, France. In a letter to his father – ‘They missed our bedroom, or dugout, by only six yards with two shots. We had to fill some sand bags to repair this part of the parapet which tried to stop a shell, but failed miserably, so the dirt they loosened with the shells saved us a lot of work digging for our bags. But our lads take the bins for their calmness’.