6.  On the 8th December the guns were ta­ken to FA­SANO on the Adri­atic coast and cali­bra­ted with our own Sur­vey Sec­tion do­ing the ob­serv­ing.  Mean­while the Troop Com­man­ders and Bat­tery Com­man­ders had se­veral schemes with the Infan­try.  This cul­min­ated in a full dress re­hear­sal on the 18th De­cem­ber near PO­TENZA, with the Infan­try ad­vanc­ing under the Regi­ment's fire.  The Infan­try were very much im­pres­sed with the units work and clo­ser co­oper­ation was achieved.  The scheme en­ded early to get the unit back to their bil­lets for the Christ­mas cele­bra­tions.

Christmas day was a beauti­ful sum­mer day, more like June than De­cem­ber.  The Ser­geants were in­vi­ted in the morn­ing to the Offi­cers' Mess for a lit­tle “cheer”.  At 1200 hrs a “crack” lieu­ten­ant guard, under Capt. S.J. Mat­thews re­lieved the Men's Guard after being in­spec­ted by the Com­man­ding Offi­cer Lt-Col. R.W. Arm­strong.  Con­trary to what was ex­pec­ted and per­haps hoped, the Offi­cers' Guard-moun­ting drill was above re­proach.  The men's din­ner was served by Offi­cers, WOs and Ser­geants and was really some­thing.  The menu con­sis­ted of 2 bot­tles of Ital­ian Beer, Espan­ola Soup, Roast Tur­key with on­ion dres­sing, Pork Chops and Ap­ple­sauce, Crea­med pota­toes and cauli­flower, gib­let gravy, plum pud­ding with rum sauce.  Des­pite the sur­roun­dings it was a very suc­cess­ful Christ­mas.

7.  After much dif­fi­culty the unit fi­nally se­cured some paint and tac­ti­cal signs were put on the “vehi­cles”.  Even such small change com­pletely trans­formed the ap­pear­ance of the Regi­ment and the rise in mor­ale was no­tice­able.  The Cana­dian Le­gion came through with a classy can­teen for the men and shows nearly every night which helped to make up for the lack of so­cial life.  The 17th Fol­lies was put on with tal­ent from the Regi­ment and was a deci­ded suc­cess.  The Unit even pub­lished its own weekly news­pa­per “Arty Talk” which con­tin­ued during the stay in GRA­VINA.