Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 12 of 22

Moascar
12th Mch 1916
Dear old Girl,
Now where on earth do I
start from now, things have been so mixed up
the last week, that I hardly remember what I
have written to you about, so I'll start from
just before we left the Sinai Desert. I got a 
note off to you by the last mail out there anyhow 
the Adjutant told me it would go, & I also
wrote a wee note on Friday morning up at 
Heliopolis & gave it to Mrs Knox, the Cols.
wife to post for me. Did not put any Nr on
that letter. I sent you a weekend cable from 
Cairo on Friday that should have reached you 
on Monday 13th March & I will always send you 
a Cable like that whenever I get a chance
It was very hot when we left our Camp out on
the Desert - with our packs up it was pretty
tough marching. My pack weighed about 60 lbs
but I had no difficulty in humping it along.
Am beginning to think there are lots of chaps
less physically fit than I am. We bivouaced
near the Canal the same afternoon, chucked off our
gear & went for a swim in the Canal. It was
pretty cold, but lovely, as we’d not been wet

2/ 
all over for such a long time No mail boats
came along the Canal while we were in for our
swim, if one had, we would have all deserted
& got on board for Australia. The next day we
started off & marched through Ismailia to our
camp. Ismailia is awfully pretty, you
remember it was the middle of the night when
we marched through last time. Well there are
beautiful avenues of trees all the way along
through the town, & such nice houses in the
good part of the town. The roads were also
glorious to walk upon, hard as asphalt. I
remembered about the roads the next day, for
all the lower part of my legs were stiff as a
crutches for a couple of days. After being on the
soft sand for so long the hard road
played up with all of us. The present
camp site is about 2 miles Cairo side
of Ismailia, & about 1 mile from
the nearest part of the Canal, so it is
a good long walk to go for a dip
However the boys always are willing
to fall in for the swimming parade.
I like this Camp least of all that Ive
been in, & will not be sorry when we
move on once more. On Thursday after-

3/ 
I was sent up to Cairo to attend to all
the Battalion affairs. Had a nice meal
on the train, reached Cairo about 5/30
& got a good deal of my private Comunic
finished & then went out to Heliopolis to
collect one of our Officers from the Zeitoun
School of Instruction, did not get back to
Heliopolis House in time for dinner, but
I did not mind that, as I had a lovely bath
hot as anything, about 2 ft deep, & then a
cold shower to top off with. Had such
a lovely room to sleep in, beautiful clean
sheets, & a very comfortable arm chair.
It was the first time Id slept in a room
since leaving Australia, - it was very
enjoyable. There was one thing I could
not make up my mind about, Whether it
was nicer to lie in the bed, or to sit in
the armchair. The nigger servant to my
room was a perfect angel, a great big
buck Gippy who used to appear as if he
was laid on, each time I pressed the button.
I had nothing with me at all, & he produced
bath slippers, razor &c, morning tea, & almost
cried when I would not let him bring up any
breakfast to my room.

4/ 
Had Breakfast with Mrs Knox the Cols
wife & Mrs Kennedy my Company Comdrs.
Mrs Knox is a young & apparently charming
woman, my O.C.'s wife is awfully nice.
They are both very busy doing Red Cross
work. Both husbands are very well
off. Mrs Kennedy my Mrs O.C. was
a nurse in the S.A. war she seems
to be a very capable woman. She took
me to tea in the afternoon to the
Nurses Club in Cairo, a great big
house, with nice grounds, lent by an
old Gippy Gent to the Australian
Nurses until the end of the War.
It was jolly nice having a yarn to a
couple of nice women again, after
breakfast I excused myself to the two
ladies saying I wanted to write a
letter to my wife. What are you
married! of Naturally I got most
indignant, told Mrs Knox I was older
than her husband, Had to produce all
the photos, they both reckoned John
was a Bonser. I corrected them & said
Boshter was the correct description of
him. More later-

5/ 
15/3/16. Talk about hard work trying to
get a chance to write letters, its the limit
Well old Pettie, the cable came the night
before last, telling me you were going to
Kempsey for an indefinite time & that you
were both splendid. Thats the best news
I've had for a long long time, so even if
in the next couple of letters there is any
bad news, Ill know that everything is all OK.
Well the same night, your dear old letter
with your mother's enclosed, that was
addressed to me on the Ulysses at Freemantle 
came along & then again last night
three letters from you, 19. 20, 21, one from
Jeannie, 2 from my Pater, & the case of
pipes from the Gordon Lodge, jolly good
ones too, It was great getting such a
lovely lot of letters from you in one heap.
The Doc was in our tent, Im in with the
O.C. & 2nd in Command at present, of course
the photos had to go round. The Doc was
greatly interested, could not believe he
was only 10 1/2 months when it was taken.
He did look a pet in the yard, Must knock
off now, have been 1 1/2 hours wishing this
nearly as bad as at Kinellan, Eh Goodnight Dearest

6./ 
16.3.16 I
I think it will be fairly hard
to get this letter away as no mail is leaving
the Brigade at present, as I’m afraid my dear
old woman you will be short of letters for a
while, it’s rotten luck & as we are to sail at
a very early date probably 20th or 21st
& then 8/9 days at sea, goodness only knows how
soon I’ll be able to get a letter away from
the other side. Anyhow, I’ll send you a
Cable as soon as I possibly can, from
wherever we land eventually. Been working
pretty hard lately, & the weather has been
very hot[[?]] will make all the
difference when we get into a cold
climate again. In your letter F'mantle
you mentioned receiving the cheque but as I 
only got it a couple of days ago, I found
out about it in both letters. Well old girlie
a chap has just come in saying he was going
into Ismallia & knew two sisters through
whom he could get a letter posted so Farewell
for the present. Will answer your letters on
the Boat, when I should have a few minutes
to myself. Lots of love to you & to
all at Kineller. Your loving Husband 
Cecil

A little bit extra old Darling 
for you & the Boshter. Well old girl
it looks as tho we will soon be in
the fighting now. We expect to leave
in about 4 days & land at Marseilles
& then go to Orleans for our final
training in the new sort of fighting-
Probably in about 8 weeks we shall
be doing our share in helping to
clear things up. Now old Darling you 
must not worry about me more than
you can help, & I don't anticipate
any trouble. Our luck has always
stuck to us & it wont desert us now.
It was great to get all your dear old 
letters before going. Have not got the
parcels, but they will follow on. We
are going to take our trunks with us
so we will all be comfortable & will
not camp but Billet - doubtless the
officers will get very comfortable homes 
to live in. If I have the luck to get to

England, do you think you could
come across, thats providing the
Submarines are outed. It it would
be too dangerous just now. Do you
think you could travel with John?
Dont forget there is always the Of all
of £120 you can draw on. Let me know
what you think after you get this.
Well Dearie, give the boy a big hug
for me & for yourself, just shut
your eyes tight and feel me grab you 
hard & imagine my kisses all over
your face, eyes hair and everywhere
Paused again old Darling
for the present
Your ever loving old man
Cecil

with letter 27. 
1 sheet - 2 pages
written in "weak" pencil - too light to be
photocopied - Rewritten by J[[?]] 22-8-96
p1/
"A little bit extra old Darling
for you and the Boshter(?). Well old girl
is looks as tho' we will soon be in
the fighting now. We expect to leave
in about 4 days & land at Marseilles
& then to Orleans for our final
training in the new sort of fighting-
Probably in about 8 weeks we shall
be doing our share in helping to
clear things up. Now old Darling you
must not worry about me more than
you can help & I don't anticipate
any trouble - our luck has always
stuck to us & it won't desert us now.
It was great to get your dear old
letter before going. Have not got the
torches (?) but they will follow on. We
are going to take our trunks with us
so we will all be comfortable & will
not camp but Billet - doubtless the
officers will get very comfortable houses
to live in. If I have the luck to get to