MILES, Reginald Inglis
| Service Number: | 10274 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 30 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column |
| Born: | Balmain, New South Wales, Australia, 1893 |
| Home Town: | Bimbi, Weddin, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Belgium, 1 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Plot XXV, Row E, Grave No. 8. IN MEMORY OF THE DEARLY LOVED SON OF MR. & MRS. MILES OF SYDNEY |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Blayney and Milthorpe District Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 30 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Gunner, 10274, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Dec 1915: | Involvement Gunner, 10274, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Dec 1915: | Embarked Gunner, 10274, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, HMAT Berrima, Sydney | |
| 1 Oct 1917: | Involvement Driver, 10274, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 10274 awm_unit: 2nd Australian Divisional Ammunition Column awm_rank: Driver awm_died_date: 1917-10-01 |
Help us honour Reginald Inglis Miles's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
‘Reg’ was the son of Albert and Minnie Miles, of Chatswood, Sydney, New South Wales. He was working as a farmer around Bimbi, New South Wales, when he enlisted, and was well known at Millthorpe.
It was reported in the local paper that Private Reg Miles was the recipient of a fox skin vest, presented by the employees of the Trade Palace in Millthorpe; he also received a leather money-belt. The president of the Recruiting Association made the presentation. The town band played at the Millthorpe railway station as the soldier was leaving.
He served mainly as a Driver for the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column for about 18 months on the Western Front.
The following letter from him gives a good idea of the dangers of his work, it was printed in the Orange Leader during December 1916.
Millthorpe News, SOLDIER'S LETTER.
Writing to his father, Driver Reg Miles, who is in Belgium, gives a very graphic account of his experiences at the Somme and later on at his present location, also a couple of narrow escapes he had. On one occasion a shell burst between the two teams, just in front of the writer, smashing nine horses and five of the
drivers to atoms. For a fraction of a second, he says, “I could hear it come screaming along, instinctively I grabbed at my steel helmet, but the concussion was too great, and away it went rolling; into shell crater. Needless to say, I did not wait to pick it up. Hot as the day was, I preferred to go hatless for the remainder of the day.
The next incident happened at 2 o'clock in the morning. The teams were dragging loads of timber for lining the trenches, all such work in that salient having to be done at night. When on the crest of a ridge, which was simply a maze of shell holes, running about 200 yards behind our trenches, four teams were struggling for about 100 yards through shell holes, when one team got bogged hard and fast. Imagine our feelings, with a bogged wagon on the top of a ridge, and net allowed to speak or smoke. Great flares and rockets were lighting up No-Man's Land on all sides, and the uncanny silence was broken only at intervals by the crack of a rifle or machine gun. After about an hour's unsuccessful work, a shell burst a couple of hundred yards away, so we lost no time in getting our mules and retiring to a safer position.”
Reg Miles was mortally wounded on 29 September 1917 in Belgium, with shrapnel in the left thigh and right leg. “He was hit by shell at Chateau Wood near Westhoeke Ridge. He was with a team, taking up ammunition materiel to the gun pit at the time. There were three knocked by the same shell, Miles was very badly knocked.”
Reg Miles died of his wounds two days later in the 2nd Canadian Clearing Station.