How very sad this story is ...... and what a brave soldier too !! Edgar Kinghorn Myles was born in July 1894 in East Ham. As a boy he moved with his family to Blake Hall Crescent, Wanstead. He went to East Ham Council School, Shrewsbury Rd and thence to East Ham Technical College, which, some years later became East Ham Grammar School. The School opened in 1905, when he was 11 and it's therefore likely that he was in the first entry year. After School, around 1910 I guess, he became a Clerk for the Port of London Authority. On 20 August 1914 he enlisted as a private in the 9th Bn. Worcs. Regt. In November of that year he was commissioned as a temporary 2nd Lt. and became a Capt in 1917. He served in Gallipoli from August 1915 to January 1916 before being transferred to Mesopotamia in March 1916. He stayed there until April 1918. He saw action, was twice wounded and was present at the attempted Relief of Kut. On 9th April 1916 at Sanni-I-Yat, Mesopotamia, now in Iraq, he was awarded a VC. On 25 January 1917 at Kut-al-Amara, Mesopotamia he gained a DSO. The recommendation for DSO was originally intended to be for a second VC, but Lt Gen. Sir S Maud, GOC Troops at Kut did not want to set a precedent - a double VC was unknown at the time. He married in 1947 at Hatfield when he was 53 or so. I'm not sure what happened next, but years later he was found destitute living in a converted railway carriage accompanied only by a dog. He was admitted to the Huntley Royal British Legion Home in Bishopsteighton, Devon where he died aged 82 in early 1977. He was cremated and his ashes scattered. There is no memorial tablet. RIP. In 2005 former pupils tried to get some sort of memorial plaque put up in his honour. This proved very difficult due to the fact that this sort of thing doesn't seem to be within any Newham department's sphere of interest. By 2008 there was still no progress with this endeavour. More about him can be found at http://www.jbinternet.plus.com/EHGS/myles.htm and in the booklet 'Most Conspicuous Bravery' by Stephen Pewsey & Brian Page. http://www.newhamstory.com/node/525
World War I Victoria Cross Medal Recipient. He served as a Second Lieutenant in the 8th Battalion, attached Welch Regiment, 9th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. At Sanna-ii-Yat, Mesopotamia on April 9, 1916, following a German night attack many dead and wounded lay between the lines. After attempts failed to reach the wounded men, Second Lieutenant Myles went out alone several times in front of British advanced trenches retrieving wounded comrades with himself being wounded. For courage in the face of the enemy, he was awarded the Victoria Cross Medal in September, 1916 and later achieved the rank of Captain. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8111370 http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/vc_myles
This website suggests that he does in fact have a grave or at least a cremation plaque: http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/devonshi.htm I would have thought it would be Turkish troops he would have been fighting in Mesopotamia, though perhaps someone could tell me if in fact there were German units there. In January 1917, there was already one person with VC and Bar - Arthur Martin-Leake, of the Royal Army Medical Corps. But certainly it would have been a very big step to award another. The last years of his life were certainly tragic. It looks as though getting married sent him over the edge.....! Or maybe he was one of many men who found that nothing in life measured up to what they had known in the war.
You're right about the Turks Adrian ! .... that was on Findagrave about the Germans !! He must have sold his medals himself ... ( as he didn't die until 1977 ... which reminds me he has an anniversary in a few days ! )
