Away by 10.00am on the Sunday in a motor lorry to Pernes where I joined up for a general course for officers and NCOs of XIII Corps. We were in a fairly pleasant building and the NCOs were a very decent crowd, so that I looked forward with pleasure to the six weeks. We were told off in syndicates and banded together by divisions. Work started on the Monday and, although it was hard, it was interesting. It was a case of cramming into a few hours the study of years. We had most nights off and could do pretty much as we liked. The CO had put us on trust and I don’t think anybody abused it.
Our syndicate (63rd Division NCOs) won the shooting competition easy and the same day, 7 August, we drew in the semi-final of the football competition. On 12 August the syndicate were runners up in two prize shooting competitions and we had about 100 francs to share.
On the 13th we had another competition and I was leader of the 63rd NCOs. We had to start off from a trench, attack an enemy position, dummies in the trench representing the Bosch which we had to bayonet, then another similar trench, then to shoot at the retreating enemy represented by tiles in the ground about thirty yards away. My team was easily top with a score of 265 out of a 300 possible, but 5th Division won the competition owing to our syndicate of officers letting us down. The next morning was taken up with the final exam and I passed well up, both in theory and practical, which should mean the other stripe at least on my return.
The six weeks had simply flown by and I could have stuck another six easily. At the same time I felt a desire to get back to my own battalion. Away from the pleasant little market town of Pernes by 10.00am on 15 August. Joined up with my battalion in the railway cutting next day and found to my satisfaction that I was made full sergeant, backdated to 28 April in place of Jock Saunders who was taken prisoner in the attack. Good old Jock, he did me a good turn, but then I earned him his Military Medal at Beaumont-Hamel.