Military History

Joseph is listed as being killed in action on 6 Mar 1915. The 54th Company war diary pages for 1st to 12th March 1915 are missing from the file. The following description of event is taken from an article in the Warwick Advertiser on 20th March 1915. Joseph's Register of Effects documents states that the place of death was near Farquissart.

How A Warwick Man Met His Death - Warwick Advertiser on 20th March 1915

Lance-Corporal Joseph Mills, of the Royal Engineers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Mills of 5 Parkes-street, Warwick, has been killed on active service. He was 26 years of age. The following letter received by his father from one of his friends describes his death:-

DEAR SIR, - It is with deep regret that I write to let you the circumstances under which your son No 18283 Corpl. J. Mills, met his death. We were together in the first line of trenches on the morning of the 6th and had walked along to the end of the trench to view the work which were to do that day. On coming back to where our parties were awaiting our return, we had to cross a bridge, which necessitated crossing in a crouched attitude, and it was here in the centre of this bridge that your son met his death.

He was slightly in advance of me and wad dead before I could reach him. The bullet entered the spine and came out at his mouth. He was killed at exactly 7am and we buried him at 5pm the same evening. The whole section (about 40 men) attended the funeral, and he is buried in the graveyard of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment. A cross was made and put up, and the grave is turfed and bricked all around. All Joe's private kit has been packed up and sent away and this should reach you in due course.

Dear sir, the whole of the section, in fact the whole of the company send their sympathy to you and Mrs. Mills in your sad bereavement, and you can believe me when I say that Joe was of the best liked and popular men in the company. I myself was a great friend of Joe's, and we served together in Africa, and I can assure you that it nearly broke my heart to see him lose his life like that. Owing to the censor I am not allowed to name the place where he is buried, but perhaps at some future date I may be able to do so.

Dear sir, I am writing this in the trenches in a dug-out and there is an attack on so you must excuse scribble. If there is anything I can let you know, please write and ask and I will do my best to answer. END