GILES, HERBERT ERIC GUNTHER
Rank:
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Rank:
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Date of Death:
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Text on stone:
Private
14443547
01/10/1944
19
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 2nd Bn.
II. C. 15.
He gave his young life fighting for England and your liberty
Additional Information:
(Served as GILES to hide his German name). Son of Berthold and Frieda Caroline Marie Selig.
He died of wounds at the field hospital in the village of Meerveldhoven where he was initially buried.
Herbert Selig fled his hometown of Hamburg just before the war. In January 1939 he arrived with on a child transport of Jewish Children in the UK. The rest of his family stayed behind. His father died in a concentration camp. Herbert joined the British Forces and changes his name around to Giles to sound less German.
More in our newletter of April 2020 (in Dutch).
Original gravesite at Meerveldhoven.
From the service records of Hans Eric Günther Selig, the following account can be reconstructed.
Hans Eric Günther Selig was born on 30 May 1925 in Hamburg, Germany. In civilian life he worked as a progress clerk. He was not married.
He enlisted in the British Army on 13 January 1944 and joined the General Service Corps. On 19 February 1944 he officially changed his name to Herbert Eric Giles. He was transferred to the Warwickshire Regiment on 30 March 1944, and later to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 19 September 1944.
He embarked for service in North West Europe on 3 September 1944.
According to his service records, he was 5 feet 8¼ inches tall, with auburn hair and brown eyes.
Hans Eric Günther Selig, serving under the name Herbert Eric Giles, was reported on the wounded list on 30 September 1944, having sustained penetrating wounds to the chest and abdomen. He died of his wounds on 1 October 1944.
Birmingham Daily Post 16 October 1944