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<br>Zaccho – Zakho.</ref> Convoys carried various loads – mats (trench mats etc.), bamboos, lime, black earth, bricks, petrol, kerosene, foodstuffs including vegetables, water and ice, ordnance stores, tentage, mails, personnel and baggage.
Officers assisting Major MARRIS and Captain LYNN included 2/Lts. George Robinson COCKMAN, Ernest Raymond ALLEN, Edwin BRUCE and Ernest Edward Gibson FLEMING. There were various subsequent transfers in and out of the unit, and temporary attachments of personnel from time to time, and the Diary needs to be read in detail to follow these. The Diary is also unusual in that it mentions a number of the non-commissioned officers and men by both name and regimental number; one being Mechanist Staff Sergeant Louis Vernon COLATO (050206), who later became a commissioned officer.
After the Armistice of Mudros on 30th October 1918 (curiously given no mention whatsoever in the Diary) 1023 Company remained in Mesopotamia as part of the Army of Occupation. The Diary for the period 1st December 1918 to 24th May 1919 inclusive is missing, but from elsewhere we know that on 16th January 1919 the unit was still at Hillah.<ref>''With the M.T. in Mesopotamia'', Brevet Lt.-Col. F. W. Leland, Forster, Groom and Co. Ltd, London, 1920.</ref> During that time command of the unit had passed to (then) Captain COCKMAN, and on 25th May 1919 temporary command was taken by Major C. N. DRAPER from 1016 Company. The unit was now at Kirkuk, where it remained until 24th July 1919. On 29th May an escorted convoy from the unit under the command of Lt. Patrick Joseph BAILLIE and on its way to Chemchamal was ambushed by Sheikh Mahmud’s mounted Kurds as part of the Kurdish insurrection of May-June 1919. The War Diary records that the convoy as a whole suffered a number of casualties including 15 Indian Other Ranks killed; one Burmese driver from 1023 Company was still unaccounted for six days later.
The unit remained at Makina until 16th July and then began to move via Baghdad to Hillah and had set up camp at the latter place, adjacent to 1023 Company, by 26th July, and then began convoy operations despite being depleted in numbers due to sickness. The main cargo seems to have been grain, inwards to Hillah. 2/Lts. Edmond Leslie BAYLEY and Horace William TEETON were attached to the unit from the Army Service Corps, and 2/Lt. Donald James ROSS arrived from Rangoon. One driver died from cholera.
In late September 1024 Company was ordered to move to Khanagin, and the move commenced on 30th September 1918. Unfortunately the War Diary for October has not survived, but in early November the unit was ordered to Kerind, which was reached in the middle of the month. The weather and poor roads hampered operations. On 30th November, Lt. P.J. O’SHEA took command of the unit on the admission of Major CUNINGHAM to hospital suffering from dysentery; CUNINGHAM died on 6th December 1918. Major CUNINGHAM”S replacement, Captain Ernest Edward Gibson FLEMING from 1023 Company, arrived on 24th December, but on Christmas Day the unit was rocked by another tragedy, the death of Mechanist Staff Sergeant V.N. BOGLE, who suffocated after falling out of bed.
The main work of 1024 Company in January and early February 1919 was to convey supplies to Huranabad with occasional convoys to Kasrabad and Aliabad. Several convoys went to Takigarreh to collect supplies for Kerend and forward destinations. Towards the middle of February 1024 Company began convoys to Huranabad carrying supplies, mails and personnel for the Persian Lines of Communication and for the North Persia Force. On 17th February orders were received to move down the line back to Baghdad, and after preparations were complete the move commenced on 26th February and the company arrived in Baghdad on 4th March passing through Quasi-Sharin, Khanakin and Baqubah en route. The unit remained in Baghdad from 4th March to 18th March 1919, cleaning and overhauling the vehicles, checking stores, receiving a summer kit issue, and general camp duties. All British ranks both from and attached to 1024 Company left on 14th March for demobilization. [Note: I think that the Diary should read “British other ranks.”]
*Lt. Patrick Joseph BAILLIE<ref name=LG12021920>''Ibid''., p. 1803.</ref>
*Lt. (A./Maj.) C. N. DRAPER<ref name=LG12021920/>
*2/Lt. (A./Maj.) Ernest Edward Gibson FLEMING<ref name=LG12021920/>
*B/065277 Havildar So Min, 784 (Burma) M.T. Company<ref> ''Ibid''., p. 1804.</ref>
*Lt. (A./Capt.) Edwin BRUCE<ref name=LG09091921>''London Gazette'', 32452, 9th September 1921, p. 7198.</ref>
