Leslie Lashbrook MEDLEN

Further information

Second Lieutenant Leslie Lashbrook MEDLEN, 16 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, was killed in action on 22 December 1917, aged 21. He had previously worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Woolwich and joined the Royal Flying Corps in June 1917. His two brothers also served during the Great War and survived, one in the Royal Flying Corps, the other in the Royal Garrison Artillery. His pilot, Second Lieutenant Frederick Ernest NEILY, a Canadian, was also killed with him that day in their RE8 aircraft. NEILY came from Nova Scotia and had previously served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the 18^th Field Ambulance, Canadian Army Medical Corps. Their aircraft was shot down in an aerial combat during which MEDLEN was mortally wounded in the head (Plot VI.J.3 and 4). Source: ‘Visiting the Fallen’ ARRAS North by Peter Hughes

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The following article comes from Peter Doyle's 'Doomed Youth': The War Dead of the Woolwich Polytechnic (Names D-N) http://peterdoylemilitaryhistory.com/page12.htm

MEDLEN, Leslie Lashbrook

A student of the Woolwich Polytechnic Leslie Medlen was an Honorary Member of the [Royal Ordnance Factories] Trade Lads’ Association. He was the second son of Charles Henry and Annie Lashbrook Medlen, of ‘Maycroft’, New Barn Hill, Longfield, Kent (address given as Kent House, Eglinton Hill, Plumstead in the Kentish Independent and Kentish Mail for January 4th 1918, an address repeated on his attestation forms) and was born on May 30th, 1896 (WPR), his father being an accountant (OR). He was educated at Eglinton Road and Bloomfield Road schools before joining the Polytechnic Secondary School and finally the Polytechnic itself with an L.C.C. Evening Exhibition, studying Chemistry and Metallurgy (WPR). A final entry on his record card for the session 1913-14 was ‘doctor advises discontinuance’, although there is no further explanation. His address at this time was given as 11 Vernham Road, Woolwich. After passing through the Engineering Shops and Drawing Offices of the Royal Gun Factory, he entered the Metallurgical Department, where he completed his apprenticeship, becoming an assistant metallurgist (KIKM Jan 4th 1918). He was mistakenly listed as Medlen, L. I. on the original Polytechnic plaque.

Second Lieutenant (Temporary), 16th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps and General List (OD; CWGC). He joined the RFC in June 1917, and after a course of training, crossed to France on October 16th, 1917 (KIKM Jan 4th 1918). His ‘current address’ was listed by the Woolwich Polytechnic Magazine for October 1917 as: ‘Sec. Lieut. L.L. Medlen, RFC., No 16 Squadron, 1st Wing, BEF, France (WPM Oct 1917, p.36). Killed in action, ‘shot down in aerial combat’, on December 22nd 1917, he was just 21 (CWGC). His loss was reported in the January 1918 issue of the Woolwich Polytechnic Magazine under the heading ‘The Trade Lads’ Association’: ‘It was with deepest regret that we learnt of the death of Sec.-Lieut. Leslie L. Medlen, RFC, an honorary member. He was killed whilst attacking an enemy plane, ‘somewhere in France’. In Les Medlen we have lost a jolly good fellow.’ (WPM Jan 1918, p.15).

Second Lieutenant Medlen’s records survive in the Public Record Office. He attested as a private in the RFC on June 26th 1917, at South Farnborough. At attestation he was 21, and his height given as 5 feet 9 inches, with ‘good physical development’. He was discharged from when he was appointed to a temporary commission as Second Lieutenant on the General List, on September 12th 1917. Leslie Medlen had obviously applied for a commission in the RFC early on; his application being dated June 1st 1917, his academic referee being the Principal of the Polytechnic,William Hogg. A reference from Mr Munday, Metallurgist at the Royal Arsenal dated May 21st commented that Leslie Medlen had been engaged at the Arsenal for 5 1/2 years, where he had received training as an engineer, attending concurrently at the Polytechnic. It noted that: ‘Mr Medlen has good presence and address, is an excellent motor cyclist and an all round sportsman, and his personal character is everything that can be desired.’ He was examined for pilot on August 20th 1917, but was found to be temporarily unfit; the form remarked that his adenoids needed removal. These were duly removed in hospital from August 21st to 29th, 1917, and he was re-examined for pilot on August 30th. He was found to be unfit as a pilot, although fit to be an observer, having perfect vision. A copy of the telegram to his father announcing his death in action on December 22nd 1917 is present in the file. Poignantly, correspondence between his father and the War Office seem to suggest that Leslie Medlen had only been confirmed as a Pilot Officer Observer the day before—December 21st 1917.

The Kentish Independent and Kentish Mail reported his death in two pieces on January 4th 1918 and January 11th 1918. The first of these noted the circumstances of his death, which recorded that: ‘He and his pilot were shot down by a German machine that they had gallantly attacked....[he] was killed instantly by a bullet through his head’. This article also noted that Second Lieutenant Medlen had two brothers serving with ‘the Colours’: Lieutenant C.K. Medlen RFC, in France, and W.E. Medlen, RGA, in Salonika. The Woolwich Polytechnic Magazine for October 1917 listed one of his brothers addresses alongside his own: ‘Lieut. C.K. Medlen, 3rd Balloon Section, RFC, BEF, France’, indicating that Leslie Medlen was not the only ‘old boy’ of the Polytechnic in the family. Charles Kingsley Medlen’s record card for 1912-13 notes that he was an apprentice engineer registered with various engineering courses at the Polytechnic. Both of Leslie Medlen’s brothers appear to have survived the war (CWGC).

A second, short, piece with a photograph was published in the Kentish Independent and Kentish Mail on January 11th, the photograph taken just before he travelled to France, his uniform displaying no ‘wings’. The obituary section of the January 4th Kentish Independent and Kentish Mail also reported the death of Mrs W.A. Nicholls, Second Lieutenant Medlen’s grandmother. This piece reported that: ‘The news of Second Lieutenant L.L. Medlen conveyed by wire from the War Office on Christmas Day so deeply affected [her]...that she passed away the same evening, overwhelmed by the tragic event’.

Finally, the January 4th issue of the Kentish Independent and Kentish Mail also noted Leslie Medlen’s death in a column for the Royal Ordnance Factory Trade Lads’ Association, of which he was an honorary member. It reported that: He was killed while attacking an enemy machine ‘somewhere in France’, where he has been for only a few weeks. In Leslie Medlen the Association has lost a jolly good fellow. He was one of the little party of fellows who first held meetings to talk over the formation of the Association’

Second Lieutenant Medlen is buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, Aubigny-en-Artois, France, in Plot IV, Row J, Grave 4. Burials in this cemetery were made from the 42nd, 30th, 24th, 57th and 1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Stations during 1916-1918. The cemetery contains a great many airmen; the majority officers and therefore aircrew presumably shot down in combat. The cemetery is large, and sits alongside French civilian and military graves, but is self contained and peaceful. Second Lieutenant Medlen’s grave is set in a row which consists exclusively of airmen, and bears the personal epitaph:

‘In loving remembrance

Of a brave and noble

Son and brother’

Leslie Medlen is also commemorated on the Woolwich Hospital War Memorial Roll of Honour.

In 1917, 16th Squadron RFC. formed part of the First Brigade, First Wing supporting the First Army at its junction with the Second Army near Armentieres. The First wing had a primary reconnaissance role, and was supported by the Tenth Wing, mostly equipped with fighting scouts. The 16th Squadron itself was equipped with R.E. 8 (‘Harry Tate’) reconnaissance machines and was based at Camblain-l’Abbé.