Arthur McKellar GILES

GILES, Arthur McKellar

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 13 September 1914, Sydney, New South Wales
Last Rank: Lieutenant
Last Unit: 4th Infantry Battalion
Born: Waverley, New South Wales, 31 October 1892
Home Town: Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling: Sydney Grammar School
Occupation: Analytical Chemist (Colonial Sugar Refining Co.)
Died: Killed In Action, Lone Pine, Gallipoli, 6 August 1915, aged 22 years
Cemetery: Lone Pine Cemetery, ANZAC
Re-interred in Lone Pine Cemetery when Brown's Dip was closed due to terrain instabilility issues.
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing, Sydney Grammar School WW1 Honour Board
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World War 1 Service

13 Sep 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Sydney, New South Wales
20 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, 4th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney
25 Apr 1915: Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 4th Infantry Battalion
25 Apr 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 4th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli
6 Aug 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 4th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1915-08-06

Poppy Park

Penrith in NSW recently made Poppy Park, to honour our fallen heroes. Every poppy had the name and date of death on the card attached. My family purchased four poppies and Arthur was one of them. We are honoured to have his poppy and will do some research for him, he will never be forgotten and we will speak his name to thank him for his sacrifice RIPArthur xx

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Biography contributed by John Edwards

"LIEUT A. M. GILES.

The flag and the colors of the Sydney Grammar School were lowered to half-mast on Thursday last. News had been recceived from the front of the death of an old boy, Lieutenant Arthur MacKellar Giles (brother of John Mackellar Giles, late of Young), and a son of Mr. Arthur Giles, one of the oldest and respected masters of the school. The boys had assembled and had taken their seats. The school rose and stood to attention. The headmaster briefly addressed the lads. He reminded them that another comrade had fallen while fighting to defend the flag they loved so well. They once knew Arthur Giles as captain of the school rifle club, and an active oarsman in the school boat, but his memory only was left, for he had fallen on the battlefield in answer to duty's call. Yet he had left behind him a good record, and died as a brave soldier. In his last letter to his parents young Giles referred to the death of a comrade in these words:- "He died a soldiers death, and no man could wish for more," and so it was with Arthur Giles himself. One of the nurses in Cairo, Mrs. Harry Chisholm writing to her husband under date June 14th said:- "I am told there is not a better officer at the Dardanelles than Arthur Giles. That he is simply
magnificent in action - so brave and no nerves. He spurs his men on, and if they are in any great danger he's with them. He has had promotion, and with luck may rise to anything."  "The boys in the school to-day," said the headmaster, "will be the men of tomorrow. They will have to fill the places of Lieutenant Giles and the men who have fallen beside him. They have an example of manhood before them which they might well follow." - from the Young Witness 24 Aug 1915 (nla.gov.au)

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