Dear Peter

My father, Lieut Ken S Kingsmill, spent the years from 1914 to 1919 in the Australian Artillery in Egypt, at Gallipoli, and on the Western Front.

He kept a diary (not all of which has survived) and he wrote almost weekly to his parents. In the early 1960s he used this material to write a memoir. In recent months I have been getting the letters and the memoir into suitable digital form in order to ensure their preservation. It has been an interesting task, particularly when, from time to time, some mention in the texts has caused me to turn to the Internet to look for further information.

I noticed that, in 1917, there were five mentions of Lieutenant Doughty, and when I looked to see if I might identify him further I was delighted to find your memorial website.

Just in case it is information that you may not have had from other sources I am sending you, below, the five extracts from my father's memoir in which Lieut Doughty is mentioned. I hope that, so many years having passed, you will not find them too hard to read.

Incidentally, your website mentions that Lieut Doughty's last diary was not found among his effects. As I understand it, the writing of diaries was forbidden to all Australian troops. If that was so, his diary might have been removed by a colleague in order to avoid possible trouble.

Alternatively, it could have been confiscated by someone in authority because it was it was written in defiance of orders.

Best regards,

Donald Kingsmill
Canberra