[Arthur Gill was stationed at the No. 1 School of Instruction, Brocton Camp, Staffordshire on Armistice Day]

Time rolled on, then the unforgettable day dawned:-- Armistice Day, Nov, 11^th, 1918—THE WAR WAS OVER!

I’ll never forget that day! All discipline went overboard, there were more “drunks” in the camp than sober ones.

[…]

Quite a number of the “Old Sweats” in our hut made it an excuse when anyone in the hut was “demobbed” to have what they called a “FAREWELL CONCERT”. These so-called concerts were atrocious, drunken affairs. Some of these “Old Sweats” were “in tow” with the Sergeants mess, and could procure as much beer as they wanted from that quarter, and they actually took Fire Buckets from our hut and brought them back full of beer, and then the “fun” started. One of them would act as Chairman, and bawl out “Gentlemen! A good singer and a good song” and call upon some other “Old Sweat” to sing:-- 99 times out of 100, the result would be the rendering of some mournful old dirge in a drunken voice that gave one the “Willies”, then they would all clap and call for ENCORE! and gulp down more beer. This pandemonium generally went on till about 3a.m. till they were too doped to carry on.