Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 5 of 22

18/
Tel El Kebir
29 : 1 : 16

Dear old Girl.
Got another nice old
letter from you during the week. It was
brought down from Jeitoun by one of the
chaps that came down. It was the letter
I was particularly anxious to get, the
one you wrote partly in Melbourne & finished 
when you got to Sydney. It was a great 
relief to me to hear you had got over OK.
It must have been an awful push & bustle
for you. & Im sure Percy going over must
have eased things a good deal for you.
I wont go through your letter again now
as the tent is in a state of bustle fellows fitting
on equipment &c for the night operations we
are going to start on this afternoon. The new
orders insist on Officers dressing the same
as the men. We wear Neb Equipment on all
Parades, & when the men wear Packs, we
wear packs also, & its packs up for this joke
today. Have not written since last Sunday.
During the week we have had quite a lot
of things happening. Two days musketry out
on the desert about 5 miles away, shooting at
bricks put up at unknown ranges, to represent

2/ 

men lying down. The bricks used to get smashed
up pretty well, once we picked up the range.
On Tuesday I was sent up to Cairo to pick
out men from the 6th Reinforcements to
bring the Battallion up to strength. Did not
have a successful day of it. Picked all the
best men out of the crowd I brought over & 
then Head Quarters would not allow them to
come away. It was rotten luck after all the
bother of going up. At any rate I was able
to send you a Week End Cable saying I
was OK, which no doubt you would receive
in due course. Addressed it Mills Burne
Kinellan, Dalley St. Waverley. Saw Docker
on Wednesday afternoon just before coming
back here. He looks as well as possible, but
has a lot of pain when his arm is being
moved about. His elbow is dislocated, not
his shoulder. He will be in Hospital for some
time to come yet, probably 3/4 weeks. He
asked to be kindly remembered to you.
I sent over a little Enamel & plated spoon
addressed to Master John. B. Mills, It is for
Johnnies Birthday, Hope it reaches you
before then.

3/ 

The picture in enamel was an old Cairo Street
Hope they did not send over one other than the
one purchased. It was a reputable shop, & they
went through [[ais other?]] the cartons for [[?]] as if
they send hundreds of packets away. Now we
should soon be away from here now. Two
Battallions from our Brigade went away
last Tuesday, & also the advance Guard from
our Battalion & our Battalion expects to
move down to the Canal in about 5 days time.
It is a pretty rotten place to be camped, so Im
told, all sand hills, no horses, only Camel
transport, so all the water we will get will be
fairly harmless. Col. Watson is in Command
of 24th Battn alongside us. Tony Hordern
was out here the other day with him, but I
did not see him. We are not looking forward
to any wildly exciting times on the Canal, &
it is most probable that we will not be there
after April. When up in Cairo during the week
I drew £5 on the letter of credit & endorsed on the
back of the Draft to debit you a/c with it.
As the Credit expires on 31st Jany & it was not worth
while getting another, I drew £5 & cancelled the credit
& now I can let the pae pay due to me accumulate

4/

instead of drawing my pay. No more this
time, as I want to read up some notes for
tonights business & the mail closes early in
the morning. Hope to write again tomorrow
but one can never tell when an unexpected
job turns up.
Your loving Husband
Cecil
I forgot to mention that as usual I am
quite well & rapidly reaching 100 HP. If I
get over 100, will have to get the safety valve
going. Love to all at Kinellan.
Am enclosing you a set of our Battallion
fighting colours, I ve got them up now & am
one of the [[Knuts?]] now
CBM

Tel El Kebir
29.1:16
Dearest, Before starting or reading up about
night operations. Ill add a little more for my own
dear old woman. The photos were again splendid
Johnnie with the big Dane was great. The dog did
not seem to mind John being there at all. Has he
even captivated the dog? Forgot to mention
I got the Argus &Bulletin at Zeitoun during the
week. The Argus had McKays speech in it. No
doubt about it being pretty solid. None of them
up there had had that paper & they were all very
much taken with it & absolutely approved of it.
If you do accumulate much wealth, don't put
it all in John's a/c, put it in your own, I am
almost sure you can pay in at Sydney at the
Govt. Sav Bank, & then no one need know what
youve got in your own a/c. Am not surprised
at Atkinson not having enlisted, altho I dont
know how he has the hide to stay at home.
Yes old dearie, I'd give a good slice out of
my deferred pay to be able so see you & John
doing all your little tricks together, fancy him
waving his hand Ta Ta & biting you when he
tries to kiss you. Never mind, it may not be
long, before it is all over & we are back together again

2/ 

Had a letter from your Mother during the week, also, it
came down from Zeitoun they were getting ready for
you & John when she wrote. Am so glad the atmosphere
has altered for the better, but I knew it would always
be OK for you & John & I daresay it will be
for me later on. We will not be able to take
many clothes with us to the Canal, so socks will
come in handy if you see any lying about &
Williams Victory & Lucy Hinton Tobacco will
be in the boom, Capstan cigarettes in 50 Tins of
50 would not be too bad either. Am glad the Defence
Dept are now paying in regularly. You have
certainly got the o/dft down pretty low, but please
Dear old woman do not stint yourself in any
way, & go to extremes in being careful. It was
a pretty mixed up party at Mrs Nossy's. Hope Mrs
Thomps did not break out & upset things. Well old
girleen, must ring off now, & with all my love
my Dearest Wife to you & John.
Your ever loving Husband
Cecil

18/
Censored
Clive M Willams Lt

O.A.S
Abroad 

Mrs CB. Mills
c/. Dr. A Burne
Kinellan
Dalley St.
Waverley
New South Wales
Australia 

Passed By 
No3018 
Censor

CAIRE
No. 355 

COLIS POSTAUX ET LES BOITES AVEC VALEUR DECLAREE

Master John B Mills
C/. Dr. A. Burne
"Kinellan"
Dalley St, Waverley
N. S. Wales
Australia 

VALUE-VALEUR WEIGHT-POIDS