Service Number: 787 Rank: Sergeant Enlistment Unit: 1st battalion Transferred Unit: 53rd battalion as Sergeant Date of Enlistment: 20 August 1914 Enlistment Age: 21 years 9 months Fate of person: Returned to Australia

Biographical Details

Iles was a carpenter when he enlisted in Sydney on 20 August 1914. He had had six years’ service with the 92nd Infantry in Launceston which may explain why he joined the 53rd Regiment as a sergeant. Iles saw action at Gallipoli and then in France, being wounded at the Battle of Ypres, September 1917. Because of his injuries he was invalided back to Australia and discharged in September 1918. After the war he worked for the Agricultural Bank and was chairman of the Launceston Progress Association. At the outbreak of the World War 2 he enlisted and saw active service in the Middle East before being discharged as medically unfit in 1942. He died at the Repatriation Hospital in Hobart in August 1951.

Return to all soldier biographies