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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Tpr. Charles Alfred Mills
British Army 9th Lancers
from:London
My grandfather, Charles Mills, joined the Army on 14th August 1902. He served with the 9th Lancers in South Africa and India, before being garrisoned at Canterbury (my home town), where he met and married my grandmother. Of his service and life I know very little, as he died when my father was only 4 years old.
He did fight at the Battle of Mons and was wounded and captured on 24th of September 1914, so I can only assume he took part in the Charge at Audregnies. He was shot (in the chest) as part of that brave action. He was a POW for 4 years and 4 months, being released in 1919. After his capture it was some months before his name was listed, so, for all that time my grandmother scoured the casualty lists, hoping the "Missing believed killed in action" would be proved wrong.
He was discharged 23rd of March 1919, as "surplus to requirements, having been wounded in action". The family settled in Canterbury, where surgeons refused to remove the bullet, as it was in too dangerous a position. However, in 1927, he became very ill and died in hospital, after his heart enlarged and burst on the German bullet. He was just 44 years old. The Government insisted his illness killed him, not the bullet, and denied my grandmother a War Widows Pension, leaving her to raise 7 children on her own. It also meant his name would not be shown on the 9th Lancers Memorial, in Canterbury Cathedral, as Died of Wounds. The 9th Lancers Old Comrades Association arranged a full military funeral for him, with a gun carriage supplied by the Royal Horse Artillery, who were garrisoned in Canterbury at that time. He loved being a Lancer.
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