February 1941

I was well into on the job training for the position of Orderly Room Clerk in the Battalion Orderly Room. I was not a trained clerk but there was a vacancy and I was being slotted into it. Around this time Bill El,ms became the driver for the GOC 1 Canadian Division Major-General G.R. Pearkes, VC DSO MC. Rehearsals were held early in the month for the GOCs inspection. L/Cpl A. Groves was awarded the medal of the Order of British Empire for the meritorious service in connection with the battalion transport in France in June of 1940. The battalion was given permission to wear glengarries when walking out and on leave in lieu of the balmoral. On 9 Feb the unit participated in exercise Fox and we finally moved out on 11 Feb. After reaching the assembly area the move to the advance area was a complete shambles and consequently most of the the 1st Division got lost and the unit received no food or petrol for over 24 hours. The exercise was called off and we returned to our billets at 0600hrs on Monday.

Enemy air activity was quite severe both in the daytime and at night. Every other night there was an alert and bombing in London. Battalion carried on with the training as set out in the training syllabus. Major Merry was returned to Canada this month. Exercise at Gatwick Airport canceled. Unit boxers won championships in four weight classes including heavyweight. The CO returned to the unit from the Senior Officers course.