Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Myles was born in Mount Gambier on the 27th August 1919 to Catherine Agnes and Patrick Geraghty. He was named after his Irish grandfather, Myles. Siblings Kath, Julia?? Brother Patrick (Pat)
Myles attended the local Coonawarra School. To promote healthy competition against another local school, Comaum, a combined picnic was held in a local farmer’s paddock at Glenroy at the end of the ’24 school year. Over 200 parents and students travelled in motor lorries and cars to be involved. Where, as a 10-year-old he was a prize winner in the under 10 boys’ category.
The strongly Catholic family gave generously to the opening of the new church at Penola in ’24. with Myles giving £1 10/ which contributed to a pair of brass candle sticks. They were all heavily involved in a further fund raising bazaar effort in November ’29 held in the Institute Hall where goods, stalls and exhibits were exceptional.
In ’31 aged 11 Myles and Patrick, both members of the Coonawarra Project Club reported on their innovative undertaking.
"On March 1, 1929, we bought six hens and one rooster, which cost 5/ for the rooster, and 2/ each for the hens. We fed our fowls on mash in the morning, greenfeed at dinner time, and grain at night. We also give them curdled milk besides water. We rented the shed for one year. We used only one bag of grain, which cost 2/. We give them lettuce, lucerne and a little green barley for green feed.
"We put two buckets of sand in the pen for grit. We get about three to five eggs a day and sell most of the eggs to mother for setting. She agreed to give us a penny each for them every month. “We also find it better to give them water with the mash besides milk. We charge 6d. a month for labour. Two roosts were made of some bull oak that father gave.”
Two years later, the brothers successfully reared calves, with other students growing and drying apricots, making sweets, growing ferns, rearing sheep, growing vegetables and bee keeping in diverse enterprises.
Post school, Myles worked as a farm hand while living at Port McDonnell. However, with the outbreak of War, 20-year-old Myles enlisted on the 3rd July 1940 and was allocated the number SX7657 and placed in the newly formed 2/48th Battalion. His early days were spent at Wayville in the Pavilions which were part of the now Royal Adelaide Showgrounds. Following leave, he embarked on the Stratheden on the 7th November ’40, arriving in the Middle East on the 17th December. Within four months he was graded as a Group II Signaller. He was unfortunate to develop a form of jaundice caused by an inflammation of his bile ducts and which caused yellowing of his skin and eyes (Catarrhal Jaundice). He spent over a week in hospital before returning to his battalion in November.
The soldiers found out early that equipment could not safely be left unattended, even in their tents. Initially they were propped together against the middle pole, but at night, silent, light-fingered locals would sneak in and steal them. Unfortunately, in February ‘42 Myles ‘lost by neglect’ his own rifle, valued at £9-9.9 which was debited to his pay, after he was admonished.
That was not to be a good year for Myles. On the 6th November he was wounded in action with shrapnel to his leg. At the time, Montgomery ordered the 9th Battalion to attack northward, including an all-out attack on the strategically positioned Trig 29. The 2/48th Battalion had prepared for the second battle of El Alamein which began on October 23rd. John Glenn in “Tobruk to Tarakan” commented that ‘the 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest.’ As the vicious fighting continued into November, he commented on ‘the unsmiling eyes of men who had faced death in its most vicious form. Theirs was the pride and sorrow of men who had endured too much. When all else was forgotten, they would remember Alamein and their mates who died there.”
Kenneth Slessor, the Official War Correspondent wrote an article which was reproduced in several newspapers. This detailed the battle of El Alamein at the end of October. Referring to the outstanding work of the 2/48th Battalion on that occasion, Slessor wrote: ‘Within one week, in the last great battle of El Alamein, two men of the 2/48th Battalion won the Victoria Cross. Sgt. Bill Kibby, VC, and Pte. Percy Gratwick, VC, lie under the sand in soldiers’ graves today. Australia is far away over the rim of the world, and no one comes near the wooden crosses painted with their names except the wandering Bedouin and the little lizards of the desert. ‘But their battalion is rich in its pride and in its memories. They will never be forgotten. From the stories of their mates, those reluctant-tongued soldiers who fixed bayonets with them in the great offensive which drove Rommel from Egypt, come portraits of these two men in action which no other source could furnish.’ A fitting tribute.
In November ’42, newspapers carried lengthy lists of South Australian Casualties with all except two being with serving infantry units. So many were from the 2/48th Battalion, reinforcing that this battalion would be identified as the most decorated but decimated. This included;
Killed In Action — SX11130 Pte. Ernest W S. Moore, Nth. Kensington; SX13756 Pte. Edward G. Davis, Salisbury. Dangerously Wounded.— SX8096 A-Cpl. Henry D. Laughton, King's Park. Wounded In Action. — SX10316 MJr. Geoffrey S. Edmunds, Toorak; SX9064 Lt. Hugh F. Treloar, Adelaide; SX8402 Pte. Arnold. R. Dolan, Renmark; SX6910 Pte. Howard Major, Woodville; SX6832 Pte. Walter J. Fennell. Berri; SX13701 Pte. Frank M. Lowe, Whyalla; SX7609 Pte. Colin H. Rickard, Penola; SX7411 Pte. Walter H. J. Hay, Murray Bridge; SX7122 Pte. Percival G. Bartholomew, Narrung; SX11828 Pte. Roy H. Winter, Thebarton; SX7932 Pte. J. A. Hick, Adelaide; SX3230 Pte. Leonard F. Adams, Brompton; SX7835 Pte. Clarence W. Duffleld. Glanville; SX7242 Pte. Paul A. Pfeiffer, Berri; SX7130 Pte. Eric A. Goold, Salisbury; SX6829 L-Cpl. Clement R. P. Billing, Pinnaroo; SX10501 Pte. Hedley K. Bonython, Burnside; SX7591 Cpl. Jack S. Bowers, Unley; SX7666 Pte. Eric J. Chuck, Kalangadoo; SX8810 Pte. Howard R. Crabb, Whyalla; SX13683 Pte. Sydney L. Farrell. Broken Hill: SX7657 Pte. Myles A. Geraghy, Pt . MacDonnell; SX7266 Sgt. Neil Gilchrist, Balaklava; SX9376 Pte. Harold. H. Gogel, Moorook; SX11131 Pte. H. N. Headon, Adelaide; SX7642 Pte Donald J. Kerin, Burra; SX8837 Pte. E. V. W. Lynch, Adelaide; SX9445 Pte. Lawerence H. Mickan, Cummins; SX7025 A-L-Cpl. Paul B. Morrissey, King's Park; SX9530 Pte. David R. Munn, Colonel Light Gardens; SX5030 Pte. Eric R. Olds. Adelaide; SX8239 Pte. Colin R. Parsons, Minlaton; SX8904 Pte. Keith Player, Warooka; SX6915 Cpl. Glyn H. Pope, Cheltenham; SX13012 Pte. J. Ralla. Brompton; SX7410 Cpl. Robert F. G. Ran ford, Davington; SX14283 Pte. John D Seebohm, Tantanoola; SX11302 Pte. Walter Sharp, Magill; SX7206 Pte. Ronald C. Smith, Helmsdale; SX6894 Pte. Thomas V. Trish, Mile End; SX7221 Pte. William H. Vivian, Albert Park; SX7689 Pte. John E. Wakeman, Robe; SX11160 Pte. Samuel E. Welsh, Adelaide; SX7808 Sgt, Jack K. Weston, Appila.
Following time in hospital, Myles was able to return to the 2/48th just after Christmas and in time to finally return to Australia at the start of February ’43.
All too soon, training in Queensland followed as the battalion prepared to face a very different enemy in the humid jungle of New Guinea. Myles arrived in Milne Bay in August, but within months had developed an extremely high temperature of unknown origin (PUO), dermatitis, foot problems and fungal problems on his skin. This caused him to return to Brisbane in March ’44. He spent time in the Mt Gambier hospital being treated for several bouts of malaria. In between he had leave at Port MacDonnell in April ’44 with the newspapers reporting that Signaller Myles was ‘home’.
On his return in September, Myles received his first fine for drunkenness and being AWL for two hours, plus a hefty 14 days being confined to barracks. Ironically, he was then promoted as Lance Corporal.
In April ’45 he headed to Tarakan and a further promotion to Corporal. Ironically, he received another reprimand for leaving before his relief arrived. Fortunately, this just attracted a reprimand. With the war at an end he returned to Australia, then travelled home to South Australia to finally be discharged on the 26th December ’45.
Soon after, Myles married Emma Jean with the two having sons, Michael and Bernard. The family settled on a Soldiers’ Settlers Block at Mt Schank.
Less than seven years after his discharge, aged just 33, Myles died suddenly on the 6th September 1952 at his Mount Schank home The Border Watch reported on the distressing loss. “A Mount Schank soldier settler. Mr. Myles Anthony Geraghty, aged 33, died suddenly at his home on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Geraghty, who had complained of pains and a general feeling of sickness, had been tailing lambs during the afternoon. He left for the Bellum Hotel about 4 p.m., and after staying there for a short time, returned home again. When he did not leave his truck, his wife made investigations and found him dead at the wheel.”
Myles was buried in the Mount Gambier Lake Terrace Cemetery in Section LA, Plot 579. He was not to meet his baby daughter, Elizabeth who was born after his death.
Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1965), Tuesday 9 September 1952, page 4 GERAGHTY-On September 6, (suddenly), at his residence, Myles Anthony, of Mount Schank, dearly be-loved husband of Emma Jean Geraghty and loved father of Michael and Bernard. Aged 33 years. Requiescat in pace. The friends of the late Mr. Myles Anthony Geraghty, of Mount Schank, are respectively informed that his re- mains were peacefully laid to rest in the Mount Gambier cemetery this Tuesday after- noon.
Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1965), Saturday 5 September 1953, page 6 GERAGHTY, Myles Anthony, SX 7657, 2/48th Btn. A.I.F. In. loving memory of our, dear husband and daddy, -who died suddenly September 6, 1952. Aged 33 years. R.I.P. What a sad lonely year Only those who have loved and lost Can understand our pain To those who do not bear that cross It's too hard to try to explain. - Always remembered and sadly missed by your loving wife, and children Michael, Bernard, and our darling daughter you never lived to see.
GERAGHTY - In loving memory of my nephew, Myles A. Geraghty, late Mt. Schank, 2nd A.I.F. Ret. of Tobruk, who passed away on September 6, 1952. Safe in the arms of Jesus. -Inserted by his loving auntie, Ena M. Smith, of Melbourne, Victoria.
Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1965), Saturday 4 September 1954, page 6 GERAGHTY, Miles Anthony, SX 7657, 2/48th Bat. A.I.F.—In loving memory of my dear Husband and Daddy, who died suddenly September 6, 1952. R.I.P. Our happiness on earth was very short But we pray that God will grant us Grace To spend everlasting happiness with you. Sadly missed and always remembered by his loving wife and children.
More tragedy befell Emma when her home at Mt Schank was burnt out in a fierce fire in January 1959, destroying all her contents. Two years later, Emma applied for the medals earned by Myles, with the 1939/45 Star, African Star with clasp, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal and Australian Service medal plus his Returned from Active Service Badge being sent to her in April ’75.
Myles was survived by both his parents, Catherine and Patrick. His wife, Emma Jean lived to be 84 and died on the 12th May 2003. She now rests alongside Myles.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.