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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 947

Four: Private E. S. Miles, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, taken a prisoner of war at the Fall of Singapore

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (3855416 Pte. E. S. Miles. Loyal R.); 1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (4)

Edward Stephen Miles, a native of Madeline Street, Liverpool, enlisted in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment in November 1934 and was taken a prisoner of war at the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. The Japanese had landed on Singapore Island on 8 February. Some counter-attacks were attempted, including at Bukit Timah on 11 February by the re-equipped 18th Recce, but in general the invaders were allowed to retain the initiative as the garrison fell back towards the suburbs of Singapore city. The 2nd Battalion, Miles included, defended positions on Reformatory Road before starting a series of withdrawals which took them to Gillman Barracks, their former peacetime base. Their final withdrawal to Mount Washington left the surviving Loyals were ordered to lay down their arms on 15 February.

Miles was interned at Changi Camp from February 1942-July 1943, being held at Osaka Camp for the remainder of the war. He was transferred to the reserve in June 1946; sold with copied research.

Note: the two photographs illustrating this Lot may be the only ones ever taken showing the 2nd Battalion while in captivity in Changi. They are part of a set of eight photographs taken Reverend Lewis Headley, using a Leica camera and film which he buried for safety at the time of the surrender, and retrieved eight months later. He processed the film in an X-Ray developer, and then hid the negatives throughout the rest of his time in captivity. They survived his forced transfer to the Siamese jungle, and escaped detection by numerous searches. They were hidden in socks, in hollow bamboo and finally in the centre of a ball of mending wool. Discovery would have risked severe punishment by their Japanese captors (http://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk/world-war-ii-1/).

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Sold for
£320

Starting price
£100