Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 3 - Part 2 of 17

6/ 
I do hope the poor little chap is 
over his teeth trouble. It's rotten luck 
that youngsters have to go through so 
much pain getting their teeth, but it seems 
to be inevitable. Have not seen too many 
papers lately. That seems a rotten old blow 
up they had in Ireland. I did not know 
anything about it until it was all over. I 
daresay that Sir Roger Casement is some 
relation of the late Dr Casement of Kempsey. 
He also had a mad streak in him - 
You never mentioned whether your 
Mother ever got a letter from Dick with 
my name on the envelope as Censor, & you 
never mentioned my having met Dick, unless 
it is mentioned in the letter that has gone astray. 
am not at all surprised at Comhart  getting 
married again.  I always notice that men 
that make a great parade of their grief, nearly 
always get over it very quickly. He certainly 
wants a woman to look after him, as he 
is a most helpless chap. Thank John for his 
nice letter about the spoon. Was thinking today 
it was about time you got the parcel

7/ 
sent you from Malta. Do hope the 
stuff was OK & that you liked it.  
am pretty sure you will like the collars 
&c that went from Rouen the following 
week, perhaps you have also got that parcel  
by now. Well old Girl, Im off to bed now 
it is about 9 o' clock & when one gets up at  
an ungodly hour in the morning, it makes 
a long day of it. Dont know yet whether 
I have to get up at 2/30 in the morning & 
take another party trench digging, if I 
do not have to go, am taking my men to 
the Baths. No more now old Dear. 
Will post this tomorrow altho we have 
been told there is no mail until 18th and 
Give them all my love wherever you are 
staying, suppose you are will be back at Kinellan 
by the time you get this. 
So wish all my [[really?]] love to you & [[?]] John 
Your Own old man 
Cecil 
PS Hope you will be able to read this 
pencil letter, will get some more ink for 
next one. 

36/
7th May
Have had a pretty rocky time the last few  
days. My platoon has been on a big trench  
digging job.  It meant getting up at 2.30 am 
marching 5½ miles, working 6 hrs, then marching  
home again. We all got pretty fed up, 4 days
in succession, so we got permission to camp down
here near the job & will only have 400 yds to walk
Think we have about 5 more days of it. Had a
pretty comfortable billet where we were, the bat- 
men need to buy extras in the way of eggs etc &
the old lady with whom we are billeted does the
cooking for us. We have a hot joint about twice
every 3 days, soup once a day, so are living
well. It will be tough here, just rations. Stew  
every second day, bully beef & machorochi 
rations the other day: but as you know I can eat
anything & thrive on it. We are right up close
to the firing line now, so it is not much of a
spell from the trenches, as we can be strafed
any time the Bosches catch sight of us working
They can tear shrapnel into us, but if they
don't get us with the first shell we are well
& truly in the trenches we are digging before
the next one comes. High explosives are not
much use against the trenches we are digging
Only hope they don't drop onto this billet

II
else they will have us scuttling inside 1½ minutes
Where we are now must have been a delightful
old place before the Curse started. Beautiful
old house, with a moat right round & water in 
it with a couple of bridges over it - 'not drawbridges 
tho'. The outbuildings are in a huge
quadrangle & it is in these buildings that
we are living for the time being. Plenty of
clean straw, so the men are very comfortable.
The weather has been keeping nice & warm, am
now wearing the silk shirts you sent & the 
cheese cloth ones are very comfy next the skin.
Got a scare last Tuesday - was going round our  
men's huts back at the Billets with the Dr-, & we 
stopped to examine the incinerator when suddenly  
a cartridge went off with an awful wallop 
& just missed me, made one ear sing for a 
minute. Fancy getting wounded at the incinerator 
- not very romantic. Like to get hold
of the silly ass who let his ammunition lie
about & get mixed up with the rubbish.
Next day - Monday. am back at my old billet
today. the artillery objected to us being where
we were camped, as it was too close to one
of their batteries; so we had to clear & take
up the old 5½ mile walk each day again to

III 
work. am just as glad, it was a regular death
trap if the German artillery had dropped on to us.
We finished the work this morning that had been
set out for us, so tomorrow I expect to take  a new
lot of men, & my own chaps will go for their bath.
Wish I could go for mine - it is nearly 3 weeks
since I've had a good bath. Cold spell today,
it came suddenly. My menu for today - Bacon,
bread & butter & tea 4am - Bacon & eggs, bread & 
butter & tea 8.45 am (found some chaps I knew
close to where I was working, invited myself 
to breakfast.) Grilled steak, chipped potatoes
bread butter & 12 o'clock - special treat for
dinner - an old roast hen, rice - the way we
would have bread sauce - & lettuce salad.
Have not seen too many papers lately: did
not know anything about the Irish scrap till
it was all over. 
41> 
14. 6. 16 - am well supplied with sox again, but
there are plenty of chaps who are very hard up
for them & the machine knitted ones supplied by
the army are not to be compared to the hand
knitted ones. Had a bit of luck - was telling
you about my boots being worn out. Met one of
our officers who had indented a pair of trench
boots thro' the British Ordnance. They are
beautiful, come nearly to the knees, & are water-

IV 
tight - cost £1.16.9 - Did not fit, so I bought 
them from him, so am quite o.k. again now.
All the while I've been on this trench digging business
have been near 20th Batt. They were the ones that
got a grueling 10 days ago. The Huns gave part
of their line an awful doing with Artillery
concentrated on about 250 yds of the parapets &
poured in between 15, 000 & 20,000 shells in 1 ¼ hrs
There were about 100 casualties, not many
killed. Hope S. Bond got safely thro' - he gave
a good account of evacuation of Galipoli. My
O . C was left in charge of Lone Pine with 80 men. 
That was rather an important job! 
Love to everyone - letters again in a few days. 
The Dad did write me a jolly nice one.

39  
Mrs CB Mills 
C/- Dr A Burne 
Kinellan 
Dalley St 
Waverley 
New South Wales 
Australia 
[*PASSED FIELD CENSOR 2964*]

40/ 
France 
Thursday. 11 : 5 : 16 

Dear old Girl. 
Just the start of a wee 
note tonight, as I want to go to bed early to be 
ready for my 2.30 am get up in the morning. 
The big trench digging job is still on full  
swing. I did not go down last Tuesday & 
instead took my chaps along to the Baths. 
It was just as good the 2nd time as the first. 
after I had finished with the hot part, the 
attendant turned a big hose of cold water on me. 
Felt I could have jumped through the roof. Today  
in the early morning there was quite a heavy frost, 
the rain has gone again, but it is not warm again  
yet, suppose it will take a couple of days for the 
warm days to return. Still no mail, but it should  
come along any day now, as it is almost a fortnight 
since the last lot came. No mail out for us until 
18th, but I'll keep on writing short notes instead 
of saving up one big letter. Things have been very 
quiet round here, the last few days, suppose it will 
liven up again. Did not get any shells this morning 
at all. The men did tear into their work this morning. 
The job they were supposed to finish at 11 o' clock was  
done at 9.30. The ground was nice & easy & knowing  
they could go as soon as they were finished the work 
laid out, they would hardly stop for Breakfast &

2/ 
would not think of a Smoko. It is wonderful
the way some days, the chaps will work like 
blazes, another day no one could make them work. 
They will scheme, malinger and loaf, & think they are 
doing something clever. They are only a pack of kids 
when it is all said & done; tho they think they are 
not. I met an artillery Officer this morning, who  
wants me very badly to transfer from the Infantry 
to the artillery.  He says they are very short of Officers  
& are sending Sergeants & Privates to England to do a 
6 weeks school there, preparatory to giving them 
Commissions. The temptation is very great but I 
don't like chucking up this mob now I'm in it,  
but I wish I could have got in the artillery for a  
start. I'm so happy with my O.C. that I don't like 
breaking from the Coy. He does not want me to go, 
otherwise I would get into it quick & lively, as I 
would not mind leaving the Battn. No more tonight 
must get off to bed, ready for my early get up again 
tomorrow.   Friday afternoon. 
Hulloo: Back from my little walking tour once 
 more. Did not go to bed this afternoon, but borrowed 
 a bike from Head Quarters & went to the Divisional 
 Baths. It was just as nice as ever & the hose 
 with cold water after the hot bath was lovely 
also. Got strafed a bit this morning while we were