This is a record of the diary of Verner Stuart Leslie Sanderson, describing his experiences in the first World War from the period July 17th 1915 to August 3rd 1917.
He was in signals and was responsible for maintaining communications, whatever that entailed. We can only imagine what it might have been, but the diary gives us some idea.
The diary ends after his "10 days dream" leave to England from 21/7/17 to 3/8/17 and, from there, his Service records show that he remained in France until the end of March 1919. He had joined on the 28th July 1915 aged 28 and returned to Australia four years later on the 26th June 1919. He was discharged on the 22nd August 1919. He would have been 32 years old. In his diary we see reference to his brother George and sister Olive as well as the names of some of his friends Bert Siddell, Norman Wauchope, Norman Levick, Ella and Miss Pollock. Given the time to do it and the necessary research into these people, one could compile a family history of the time and for the years thereafter.
We are fortunate to have some glimpse into the personal experiences that Vern relates in his diary. I have made a small contribution to this by making the diary easier to read. There are two versions, one is a plain text transcription word for word as it was written, the other is a fully researched version including images, maps, video, military documents and links to other informative literature that gives us an insight into the goings on at the time and the conditions which he faced.
I have annotated with sections taken from the web site of the Australian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au, in particular "The Australian Imperial Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918", volumes III and IV authored by C.E.W. Bean. I have included these volumes here for further study. They give a detailed and fascinating insight into the realities of the soldier's life during this time. All the volumes are available for download from the AWM site here..
There is much more information that can be gained from the AWM web site and other sources, some of which I have included here. A determined study of all this material including the Brigade Diaries could better place his carefully dated movements. For now though this transcription gives us some idea.
At the time of writing in 2021, the diary is over 106 years old. It's a small blue booklet that must have been carried with him in his pocket in the trenches. He added to it day by day and refers to "dear readers" with the thought that one day somebody would read it. Now we all can.
Lynn Jarvis
Grandson and son of his daughter Shirley.
Created as a DVD June 2008. Website conversion June 2020