Edward Samuel MILES DSO

MILES, Edward Samuel

Service Numbers: 438, Q21602, QX36371
Enlisted: 28 October 1914, Brisbane, Queensland
Last Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Last Unit: 25 Infantry Battalion AMF
Born: Laidley, Queensland, Australia, 22 July 1896
Home Town: Laidley, Lockyer Valley, Queensland
Schooling: Laidley State School
Occupation: Apprentice clerk
Died: Natural causes, Brisbane, Queensland, 8 October 1983, aged 87 years
Cemetery: Mount Gravatt Cemetery & Crematorium, Brisbane
Grave Location: Anzac Lawn 3/Grave 83. Also his (DVA) Official Commemoration - Memorial Location: Wall 40/Row K; AT the Queensland Garden of Remembrance (within Pinnaroo Lawn Cemetery) Graham Rd - Bridgeman Downs, Qld.
Memorials: Queensland Railways Toowoomba Employees Roll of Honour, Toowoomba Roll of Honour WW1
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World War 1 Service

28 Oct 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 438, Brisbane, Queensland
16 Dec 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 438, 2nd Light Horse Brigade Field Ambulance, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: '' embarkation_ship: '' embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: ''
16 Dec 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 438, 2nd Light Horse Brigade Field Ambulance, HMAT Borda, Brisbane
9 Aug 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 438, 2nd Light Horse Brigade Field Ambulance, ANZAC / Gallipoli
2 Feb 1918: Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 49th Infantry Battalion
3 May 1918: Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 49th Infantry Battalion
30 Apr 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 49th Infantry Battalion

World War 2 Service

5 Aug 1940: Enlisted Lieutenant Colonel, Q21602, 25 Infantry Battalion AMF , Toowoomba, Queensland
21 Jun 1941: Involvement Lieutenant Colonel, QX36371, 25 Infantry Battalion AMF
17 Sep 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant Colonel, QX36371
12 Mar 1945: Discharged Lieutenant Colonel, QX36371, 25 Infantry Battalion AMF

In the dugouts at Gallipoli

Edward Samuel Miles, Private S/N 438, landed at Sulva Bay / Gallipoli with the 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance on the 20th of May 1915. "They disembarked on small barges waiting about half way across to pause for about an hour waiting for tugs?, and whilst waiting used her 12pde guns against Turkish Infantry......"

24.05.1915
"Sleeping in dugout with Miles and Wiggins. Sniping after armistice over......"

(Diary extracts of Francis Henry Smith Private S/N 437)

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Edward was a Gallipoli veteran, and saw action in WW1 as a Private, gaining mentions in dispatches and such, and he was in WW2 at the battle of Milne Bay, plus he also had a bit to do with Korea, being a career soldier.  He and his wife Dot lived at New Farm when I was growing up and we saw a very great deal of them. I used to sit with him and his victaphone (an old style gramaphone that he had bought in London during the first war (where he married Aunty Dot, by the way), and brought home with him after the war on the Troop Ship, along with all the records he'd managed to get on his days off after Gallipoli and other battles that he was involved in. I remember him telling me about the assault on the beaches at Gallipoli on the 25th of April and how he said at the time they had no idea what was to come, and how many of his friends he lost that day.  He was an absolutely lovely man and I miss him and Aunty Dot very much every day. He actually died on my dad's birthday in 1983 (8th of October) and was buried on the 11th of October 1983 at Mt Gravatt Cemetery.

He also had a few brothers in ww1 (one being my great grandfather) - the family were born in Laidley, though Uncle Ted was the only one to work for the railways and his wife's maiden name was Dorothy Mary Chudley - they married 10 Nov 1917 at St Peter's Parish Church, Fulham, London, England and they had one son (who is still alive) their son was born in queensland after the war though
Aunty Dot was born in London 4th Jan 1896 (she always gave Uncle Ted a bit of stick about being her toy boy because he was 6 months younger than her.  She outlived him by a year and a half, dying 11 July 1985 in Brisbane.

 

Courtesy of Susan Jane Harris

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