Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 21 of 22

Same old Place
19: 4: 16

Dear Old Darling
This is your own
letter so excuse my affectionate start.
Well Pessie, my luck was in last night,
got 2 lovely letters from you last night, No
27/28. No.s 24, 25 & 26 have not yet come to hand,
but they will slide along one of these days. We
hear there is another lot coming along tonight.
No 28 was dated 6th March, so that was not too
bad. Now to go through your letters. Jolly
glad my letters are reaching you so well. They
ought to from Egypt anyhow, I don't see any
reason why letters should not go regularly from
here, as there are plenty of Army Field Post Offices.
About John's Pocket Book old Dear, I got it OK
such a long time ago, before Christmas I think
it was, while I was at the Zeitoun School. Fancy
it was in the Mutual Store Box you sent me. 
Surely I did not forget to even mention it, I am
sorry if I did, as I was so very pleased to have
it with our photo in & I also carry the snaps
you sent me in the back part, & it never leaves
my left hand top tunic pocket except to be looked
at.  I mentioned in a letter I wrote sometime ago
when we were marching up to the firing line, about
recvg the parcel with the shirts, socks & hanks & how
they came at a most opportune time, just after I

2/

had lost all my togs. Glad Jim Russell is
not letting those Starr Bowkett payments run
on too long. I thought he would have a bit of
sense & write so you for the money now & again. 
The payments are 2/6 per week which is £6:10/-
per annum. I'll write old Jim a note one of
these days. That was pretty solid about the
murder, wonder what Branch Templestowe is
run from. It must be one of those Agency
affairs, where a clerk goes for a couple of hours
a few days each week, perhaps tho it is only
some wild conjecture on the part of the Police. 
Fancy young Johnnie climbing right up the
top of the stairs, isn’t he a little marvel & was
not 12 months old then.  I’m sure he must be a
handful to look after. Do you remember how we
both used to almost die of heart failure quite
frequently over Bill Mells when he used to go
rushing round having his miraculous escapes
of smacking his brains out on all the corners he
could possibly go near. Johnno will be like that
soon. The little pet, tho I don't think it possible
for him to be any worse. No 2nd star for me
yet, but I don't think it will be long now. My
appointment to the aif was only dated 16:9:15, so
nearly everyone in the Battallion is senior to me in
that respect & promotion goes by seniority usually

3/

but it is a bit off now & again, to see some of
the kids about 22 floating  round with 2, up. 
My previous Military experience counts as
nothing with regard to seniority, as my Commn
in the Artillery was dormant but I dont care
as long as it comes along some day. Hope I
shall have the luck to run across Harry some day,
it will only be luck if I do. Am glad he likes
his job. Running round with a General is
good fun because one knows everything that
is going on, while we ordinary Platoon Officers
know practically nothing about anything
outside our own particular section. I knew old
Uncle Sam was knocking about down at Tel
El Kebir, but I never went looking for him, as
I'd never met him. I suppose in the letters that
are missing from you, there is something about
my having met Dick, I signed a couple of letters
for him one to Miller & one to your Auntie Ede.
Glad to hear Hans is getting round again. 
Poor little chap, it would have been rotten if
things had gone badly with him. About money,
if anything happens so me, if I get winged or
sick, I'll probably be evacuated to London &
I can get all the money I want from the Bank
there. If you keep on sending me a pair of
socks now & again, I'll be as right as rain. 

4/

Will be glad when the belt comes, as I've only got
one now. About Egypt, I was jolly glad to
get away, but I would dearly like to go there
again some day with you, when War is a thing
of the past. It would be grand to go round just
looking at all the wonders, with nothing else to
do but enjoy ourselves.  Lets hope it will come
off some day. About the effects of the War
upon the men that are going through it, I
think it will affect men differently. Lots of
chaps will simply love to get back to their
old occupations & do their very best to forget
all they can about the war as soon as possible. 
I think I'll be one of these, all I want is to get
home as soon as I can & take up our happy old
life together just where we left off. So glad to
hear you are getting your weight up, 9 stone 8
is a nice handy weight, but try & get it up to
10 stone, Perhaps when you have finished with
Kempsey, you will be able to pull the beam at 10ST.
Glad the old friends are not calling out of their
turn. Daresay John is responsible for that good
work. Good scheme bringing John’s Book up to £12.
Wonder if we will always be able so put £1 a month
away for him. It would make a nice little poultice
to work on for his education later on, wouldn’t it. 

5/

By jove the old Grey velvet is a marvel. 
Fancy it still looking so good. It has been a
good old pal to you & it always looked jolly
nice. I am so glad Johnnies spoon reached
you before his Birthday. I reckon by the
tone of your letter, you were in particularly
good spirits when it came, Am glad you
think the spoon so nice. It is almost time
you got the little things I sent you from
Malta. Hope you like those as much as
John's spoon. Altho you say there is no mail
for a fortnight from 6th Mch, it will not be a
fortnight from last night until we get it, as
this last mail has been delayed in coming to
us. It should not take 6 weeks to get our
letters from Australia.  Am anxiously waiting
for the photos next mail. We could send some
very funny old photos from here if we were
only allowed, but if any man is caught with
a Camera here, he goes up against a Brick Wall
& a firing party comes along & there is a 1st
class funeral. Our Batteries are Strafing away
a treat today. The concussion is nearly breaking
in our only window that is not broken, we will
be absolutely annoyed if it smashes. Rottenly
cold again today, but it is such a cruel war,
that we have a nice fire in our sitting room

6/

and we are not the least bit uncomfortable, 
except when duties take us outside. 
Well old Dearie, I have a few things I
must attend to & a heap of letters to answer
so my own old woman must be put on oneside 
for a while Au Revoir old Darling Woman.
Give the Boshter a big hug for me & with
all my love old Bestest Sweetheart ever
Your own old man
Cecil

PS. We are going to have a lovely hot
bath tomorrow, right up to our necks 
with plenty of soap. What HO Dearest
CBM 

Just heard I’ve gone through for my 
second star, don’t know how long it will
be before it comes through. 
CBM 

35/
O.A.S Abroad

19-4-16
Mrs. C.B. Mills
C/. Dr. A. Burne
Kinellan
Dalley St
Waverley
New South Wales
Australia 

Same Old Place 
21-4-16

Dear Old Girl,
Here we are again, 
& Good Friday at that. The weather has  
taken up a bit during the last couple 
 of days. We have all been issued with  
lovely leather coats & woolly mits & they  
are dashed handy.  Last night I got a  
parcel from Mrs Stub with 2 pr sox -
2 Hanks, they came in dashed handy & now Ive 
got about 6prs of clean socks & 9 Hanks 
so I'm on a good wicket. Will you
write & thank Mrs Stub for me, as I have 
no time today & as we go into the 
trenches again at a date not to be 
mentioned, I have no time to write 
myself. Yesterday I took 1/2 the Coy to the 
Baths & the remainder today They are 
simply great. Hot water up to the 
mens necks, with heaps of soap, in 
great big vats. The Officers Baths 
were equally luxurious, can sit in 
them with hot water right up to ones 
neck, & then there is a huge plunge of 
icy cold water 4' 6'' deep to drop into 
Oh it was lovely. Its a great thing for  
the men. Finest thing Ive seen since I joined 
the army 

The health of the men is excellent.
surprisingly so. Fancy I shall have 
some more interesting news to 
tell you next time we come out, 
as we expect to have some news 
of importance. Have to go and rush 
round my Billets now to get  
ready for the evacuation. So 
Au Revoir my Darling Old Wife. 
Perhaps no further letters for a week. 
Love to all and heaps of extra to my 
Own Two Bestests 
Your loving husband 
Cecil

36/   O.A.S Abroad 
  
Mrs C. B. Mills
C.. Dr A Burne 
"Kinellan" 
Dalley St
Waverley 
Australia New South Wales 
  
PASSED  
FIELD 
CENSOR 
2964

37/
France
30th April 1916

Dear old Girl
It is 9 or 10 days since
I have written to you, but I hope no mail
has arrived without a letter. It is so
difficult to write in the trenches, & also
hard to get the letters away. We are out
again after having done a good spell.
We went in on Good Friday night, and
absolute pig of a night, raining like
blazes & dark as anything. Going up the
Communication trench was the limit. There
are duck boards all the way along about 15"
wide & of course they were all very slippery
being wet. If one got off the duck board it
was sheer luck what one struck, might just
go into 6 inches of water & mud, or into
2 feet. Flares were going up all the time
from both our own &  the German fire trenches
& these would light things up for a few seconds
& when they went out the darkness was worse
than ever. You'd have killed yourself laughing
if you'd seen this bedraggled crew getting along.
I fell in 15 times altogether & was a mess of
mud & slime up over each knee. I was in a
mess, & as Ive only got 1 pair of pants & 1 pair
of buttees I'm not what you would call a very

2

immaculate looking Officer. It was all
dashed uncomfortable, but really funny.
Then the trenches were very wet & all the high
gum boots were also wet inside & it took about
3 pairs of knitted socks to dry the inside of
them. There was an issue of rum at 5 O'clock
the next morning and tetotallers & everyone
else had their snifter that morning. I had
mine, & it takes some getting down I can
tell you, raw O.P. rum & a good solid slug
at that, but it is a good thing for them at odd
times. Anyhow I only had 1 man sick in the
morning & he was not very bad. Easter Satdy
was also rottenly wet, but Sunday broke gloriously
fine & spring had really come along at last.
We had beautiful weather for the rest of our stay
in the trenches, but all the same we were not
sorry to come out for our spell, as we were in
for 8 days, which is a bit of a nerve strain
towards the end. Saturday there was only
desultory Artillery fire by both sides, they used
to send a few over onto our communication
trench & working parties, & ours would lash
into anything they saw behind the German lines
It was great to see it clear up on Sunday, the
men were able to get their clothes dry & we were
able so start & pump the trenches out, could