Wallace Hickford Mills (7 January 1915 – 24 November 1943) was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]

Wallace Mills
Personal information
Full name Wallace Hickford Mills
Date of birth (1915-01-07)7 January 1915
Place of birth Middle Park, Victoria
Date of death 24 November 1943(1943-11-24) (aged 28)
Place of death Gordonvale, Queensland
Height 187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1937 St Kilda 1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1937.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

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The son of Frederick Mills (1880–1966),[2] and Emily Louisa "Emma" Mills (1866–1949), née Hickford,[3] Wallace Hickford Mills was born in Middle Park, Victoria on 7 January 1915.[4]

He married Edith Jane Edward (1915–2003) in 1939.

Football

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He played in one First XVIII match for St Kilda: against Footscray, at the Junction Oval, on 24 July 1937. He was promoted from the Seconds, and replaced Ken Mackie.[5][6] He was relegated to the Seconds for the next week's match.[7]

Military service

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He enlisted for service in the Australian Military forces on 4 December 1939, and served overseas in the Middle East.[8]

Death

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He was killed in a motor accident in Far North Queensland while serving with the 2/41st Light Aid Detachment, Australian Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.[9][10]

On 24 November 1943, Mills was fatally injured when the army truck he was riding in collided with a Royal Australian Air Force truck on the Innisfail-Cairns road. He died later that day at a hospital in Gordonvale.[11][12]

He was buried at the Atherton War Cemetery.[13]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Holmesby & Main (2007).
  2. ^ Deaths: Mills, The Age, (Tuesday, 26 July 1966), p.18.
  3. ^ Deaths: Mills, The Age, (Tuesday, 22 March 1949), p.2.
  4. ^ Roll of Honour Circular, collection of the Australian War Memorial.
  5. ^ Warne-Smith, I., "Aims at Surprising St. Kilda", The Argus, (Saturday, 24 July 1937), p.24.
  6. ^ Teams Chosen: St. Kilda v. Footscray, The Argus, (Friday, 23 July 1937), p.17.
  7. ^ League Seconds, The Argus, (Friday, 30 July 1937), p.18.
  8. ^ Service Record.
  9. ^ "Service and Casualty Form". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Roll of Honour: Wallace Hickford Mills". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  11. ^ "St Kilda players who died at war". bigfooty.com. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  12. ^ Deaths: Mills, The Age, (Saturday, 11 December 1943), p.9.
  13. ^ Warrant Officer Class II Wallace Hickford Mills (VX2998), Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

References

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