Uploaded pix which appear on the Desert Column Forum.
Western Mail, Thursday, 14 November 1929, p. 2.
Bill Lynas's Bricks!
"Errol" writes from Marble Bar:- Seeing your par about Captain Bill Lynas, D.S.O., M.C. (W.M. 12/9/29) reminds me of a yarn he tells. At Broodseinde he had a good "possy" in a baker's oven. Unfortunately Fritz used the bake-house occasionally as a target in his daily "strafe," and flying pieces of brick frequently came through the bake-house door. Bill found the best method of getting forty winks was to lie with his head (tin-hatted) sticking out of the door and his body and feet inside. He was there with his company for fifteen days when they were unexpectedly relieved. Owing to the straffing and sniping it was impossible to move in the daytime, so when the relief came it was all rush and bustle to get the company away before dawn. However, the company departed safely, bound for Zonnebeke.
Then Bill told his batman that when he had tidied the bake-house oven he (the batman) could get away. He also told him to be sure and clean up the pieces of brick and put his gear, consisting of prismatic compass, field glasses, souvenirs, etc., in a sand bag handy. To Bill's annoyance the relieving officer was rather fussy, and he did not take over officially and give his receipt until it was nearly daybreak. Then Lynas raced to his old "possy," picked up his gear, and went for his life across the mud, which was such a clinging feature of the Broodseinde area. He ran into a heavy bombardment, and eventually reached the gasometer near Zonnebeke utterly exhausted. There he took shelter and rested, feeling that the sand bag he was carrying weighed nearly a ton. When he decided to move on he thought he would dump some of his kit - mobility was always an asset in dodging shells - and return for the articles next night. His horror can be imagined when he found that his sand bag, which he had already carried several miles, was filled with small pieces of brick. His batman had cleaned up the bake-house and his boss had grabbed the gleanings. When Bill realised that be had left a fine collection of effects "somewhere in France" (which he never recovered), his language was hot enough to burn all the asbestos in the mine he is working now at Marble Bar.