William Kirby and Brenda McMahon have submitted the following:-
Harry was the son of Edward Thompson Miles and Mary (nee Kell) at Morpeth on October 18th 1912. The couple had married at Morpeth in 1892 and went on to have 8 children together, sadly 2 died. His siblings were Edward, John (b/d 1893), Albert, Bessie, May Pretoria, Minnie and Ethel.
His father was a coal miner by trade. In 1911 the family were living at 4 Mersey Terrace, Hirst, Ashington.
The 1939 register shows Harry working as a bus conductor. He still lived at home with his parents at 5 Third Avenue Ashington.
When the war started he enlisted and joined the Durham Light Infantry.
On 10 July 1943, following the successful conclusion of the North African campaign in mid-May, a combined allied force of 160,000 Commonwealth and American troops invaded Sicily as a prelude to the assault on mainland Italy. The Italians, who would shortly make peace with the Allies and re-enter the war on their side, offered little determined resistance but German opposition was vigorous and stubborn. The campaign in Sicily came to an end on 17 August when the two allied forces came together at Messina, but failed to cut off the retreating Axis lines. Catania War Cemetery contains burials from the later stages of the campaign, from Lentini northwards. Many died in the heavy fighting just short of Catania (the town was taken on 5 August) and in the battle for the Simeto river bridgehead. Catania War Cemetery contains 2,135 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 112 of them unidentified.
Harry died 8th of August 1943. His headstone shows the following inscription : “At Rest”
Harry’s brother, Edward fought in the Great War. He died of wounds on December 14th 1917 aged 19 years.
Harry Thompson Miles is remembered in Ashington on A17.01 (A11.27) and A17.43, in Hirst on H62.02 and H62.04 and in the D.L.I. Book of Remembrance page 62
