Leon Alfred O’Meara was killed in action on this day in 1917
Leon was born 10 June 1897 in Camberley, Surrey. He was the only son of Major Walter O’Meara and Annie O'Meara (née Graves) of 11 Talgarth Road, West Kensington. His father was a former Barrister.
He was educated at Cordwalles junior school in Maidenhead, then Rugby. He subsequently studied for four years at St. Edward’s Oxford.
He was a member of the Officers Training Corps at both Rugby and Oxford, and intended entering Pembroke College, Oxford in the autumn of 1916 to study engineering.
He enlisted in the Artists’ Rifles on 9 January 1916, obtaining a commission in the 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment in August.
Leon served with the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia from October 1916 and, on 20 December 1916, he transferred to the 6th Battalion of his regiment.
He was killed in action during a night advance west of Kut on 6 Feb 1917, he was 19 years of age. Leon was buried on the banks of the River Tigris and is remembered on the Basra Memorial. The memorial was moved in 1992 into the desert from the banks of the Shat Al-Arab River by Saddam Hussein.
2nd Lieut. Leon Alfred O’Meara, 3rd (Reserve) att'd. 6th (Service) Battalion, The East Lancashire Regiment