Wednesday, 27 May 2015

52 Ancestors #21 - three family members on Gallipoli

This post is for Week 21 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge - 2015 - by Amy Johnson Crow from No Story Too SmallPrompt for Week  -  Military. As this is the 100th Anniversary of Anzac, I thought I would write about some of my ancestors who fought on Gallipoli. 

Firstly there is Henry Surman Connor - known as Harry - Harry was wounded just after midnight on the 2nd May 1915 at Courtney's Post, in the Dardanelles (Gallipoli). Harry was evacuated and died at Heliopolis, Egypt on the 7th May 1915.

Then there was Harold George McKerihanHarold died of wounds received at Lone Pine Gallipoli, on 16th August 1915 at Alexandria, Egypt, just two months after leaving Australia. His baby daughter Una was just 11 months old and would never know her father.

Finally, Major Gilbert Samuel Colin Latona Birkbeck for the 2nd Light Horse Regiment survived Gallipoli and went on to the Egypt and Palestine where he received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and was Mentioned In Dispatches (MID).

As I continue my research this year I may find other family members that fought on Gallipoli or indeed in WWI. The stories of these brave men were astonishing and we must remember them.
A view of Anzac Cove possibly taken about mid-summer 1915. [AWM A03632]

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