Cecil was born in 1892 to Arthur and Emma Hills at Copdock, Suffolk, England. He attended the Copdock village Public School. At the age of nineteen he came to Australia where he became a Stationhand at the property ‘Dunvegan’ Delungra NSW.
He enlisted at Liverpool NSW in February 1915 and joined the 12th Light Horse Regiment, B Squadron. With his unit he left Australia on the ship HMAT A29 Suevic in June. He served at Gallipoli where he was wounded and evacuated to hospital in Malta with a gunshot wound to his thigh and hand. Upon recovery he went to Egypt and was transferred to the 4th Light Horse Training Regiment at Moascar. In August 1917 he attended a Hotchkiss gunner course and two months later promoted to Lance Corporal.
Cecil was badly wounded at Beersheba and moved to 35th Casualty Clearing Station at El Imara, Palestine, Turkey. He subsequently died of his wounds on 3 November 1917 and was buried at Beersheba War Cemetery, Palestine. Cecil’s name is recorded on the Newdigate Cross War Memorial at Newdigate, Surry England.
Cecil is also remembered at Delungra NSW where his name is inscribed on the Delungra Roll of Honor and at the new memorial gate at Anzac Park. At Inverell his name is inscribed on the town’s Honor Roll and Cenotaph. In 1919 he was one of the men for whom a memorial tree was planted in Kurrajong Parade, Inverell.
Photo: Courtesy of family