Family write "Michael Corcoran 32938 (sitting) and 2 mates. It is believed, though not confirmed, that one of the mates is Stephen Ralph Mills - as, can be seen by closeness of serial numbers, they enlisted together. Ralph (as he was known) wrote a very moving letter home to Michael's sister Cecelia (Cis) after Michael's death detailing some of the circumstances around Michael's death.

I did undertake to trace Ralph Mills, to understand his story following the war to see if his family knew he had written such a moving letter. I received a warm reply from his nephew who remembers growing up in a house where 'Uncle Ralph' was a boarder of his sister and her family. So it is interesting to note that despite both returning from the war, neither Ralph Mills nor Tom Corcoran (26/989, brother of his mate Michael) never married and both lived out their lives as boarders in the household of a sister with a large family." AWMM