THE REWARD FOR GALLANTRY

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 231, 28 September 1915, Page 7

THE REWARD FOR GALLANTRY

r SEKOT. TU,SLEY'S DZCOBATION A HARD-EARNED TITLE, tMISTAK.EN FOR A TURK. In one of his latest letters to his , mother, who resides at 191. Hobsou "" Street. Sergeant Robert Tilsley. of the Sixth Hauraki Company, who wag «ome «, weeks ago awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and promoted to ser •* gcant. describes in racy language hie ,0 experience* on Gailipoli Peninsula, some j of which arc truly remarkable. Red calling the landing operations. Sergeaut c Tilsley states that at the roll call after " the landing his company was 00 men unci it two officers Btronp. the ordinal strength a having been 227 mm ainl --.i* nflirer*. Fortunately, i>l tlir number ineapaci 1 tated. frw wrro killed. Tli<- officers of n the company who came through were „ Captain Sincl and l.ieiitcnnnt Algx-. il Some .lays later (.evernl nf the boys who t wero reported missing turnei up. bnnp n mc the total to 1-4 [ A MEMORABLE DAY a -Saturday. Mar 8, was a day that will 0 be remembered to the end of oir lives, >, by ail of us who went through it. We \', left our trenches on the offensive, meet h ing a hail of bullets a* we moved off. J We gained a watercourse., having suf t fered only one casualty, Lieutenant. 1 Algie getting a flight hit on the leg. t Utrt t'.ie mud and water wae up to outy knees, but nevertheless we pushed ahead. f We eventually reached the firing line, i which waii held by the Foyal Scots and t Munaters. and rented awhile. Ag our 1 mission tv to push forward, it was not a long before we were on the move again, p going ahead in short rushes. One of c three rushc* took us into a daisy field, a where we were literally mown down— s such a pood target we made. It would t have been madnes* to have stayed here. :> so we rufhed to the left and lined .1 3 small ridge Pv thin time we lind lost » our oihecrs. so we dug ourselves in to I await orders. It was just a< well, as 1 the enemy got an enfilading fire on to us with machine gun*. From th.-n on :t t was impossible for the remaining com , panics to join uv us everybody who .ittempted to do so ku cut down, so we f i were temporarily cut off. i j "seemg that nobody took charge of us. ii or knew our objective. I assumed com i tnjind. and took our bcariro. Nert j . thing to do was to pet in touch with | 1 oar company commander, and the rest j lof the company. How I pot over the j ridge—aho'it .Ml yards—l don't know, as j • I wu followed by machine gun fire all i . ihe way, the bullets stirring up the dust . about my feet. About halfway across I found three of our machine gun men. ' who had tried to get up. but had been wounded. ? eventually found our 0.C.. and got orders to set the company to I snp up to our pofUion. I still had to get hack to the front position, and • gain got through without a hit. J-ater on. as thing* were progressing fairly ■well up onr «nd. I took another try at I getting across—again succeasfully. At ! nvethirty word came along that there i wouid be a general advance. Wilh CapI tain Sinel at out 1 head «c loft our I, trenches to take » position MlO yards I ahead. As soon as ye advanced the Turks retired to their reserve trenche*. leaving several machine gum in thetr firing line, and these playe.l havoc amongst us. 1 could feel the whizzing, plonk, phwat. of the bullets as they pasted mc. some a few inches from my ears, others tearing through my clothes. My mates were falling all about mc. { and one chap dropped beside mc juxt a* I I reached a water course, so I dragged j him under cover, and bound up hi» i wound, the bullet having gone in under hi* ear. and enmr out of the hack of his neck. We dug ourselves in again about j ten yards from the enemy , * trenche*. ! and here we stayed till about nine o'clock. In the meantime the regulars fried to reinforce us. hut they got cut up very badly, the consequence being that we were unable to hoH our position, so at nightfall fell hack a little, takin what wounded »c could with us. I found one of our sergeants shot through the knee, and I helped him backto a hospital, v mile* hack. I found i i some of out company- in the trencher j about 1 a.m.. end rta.wd there for the ! night. In the morning our company I were put in the reserve tre.nch, where we j found the Third Reinforcements. Our company mustered 42 out of 120, our numbers when we started PROMOTED TO KEItGEAVT. "About midnight on the following Sunday I wse awakened and taken befor* the officer* of the battalion, and pro moted eei-grant for gallantry in the gp.hi. They made a great fuss over what F had I done, and told m« I would he mentioned ' in dispatches. It wa* a great .surprise to be, to ho made sergeant, and in the morning I nearly had my hand shaken off hy the boy*. "On Friday we went bade mto the support?, when they aeked foT volun ' teem for a bayonet charge, to tak« a ' orrtain part of the Turks' trench that night. I was among the seventeen who " "uhin leered out of our company, and »c were all ready Ht 10 p.m. VTe took l the trench all right, takin? :i'l pri- ' >onem and killing a» many more, then ' getting to work t.n convert the trench to f , our own u-e. Before wf lia.i got veir f.ir the Turks counter attacked, giving us ' hell with their hand grenadi-e. At 7 a.m. wi> got orders to Vi»:ate the trench, a< it ' was no more than a dcatli trap, I «a« X nou in charge, owing to the offlnrrs liav- 1 iiijT wounded. I got back to our 1 trench all right, and after seeing our colonel 1 w»rt able to go and have a < sleep. Sunday found back azain in " the firing lino. t FURTHER PRAXsE. " Thia time 1 had a good job, asßieting oar <XC~, who -vas in- charge of 3. i and 3 poets. On. Monday the brigadier, CoL j Braithtraite, sent for mc and comoli- j mented mc for bravery. Iα the afternoon our O.C asked mc would I again go into a bayonet charge with the 3rd a I Auckland) Company. I said I would, '■ and Sei-jrt. Holland and myself were the only two out of the Haurakis this time. 1 was placed in ckarpe of the left half, and at 10.30 gave the word to charge. I hopped out. and got within three yards I of the enemy's trench, when I got a J xmack on the hand which made mc drop my rifle. I went on and threw a grenado into the Turks' trench, then jumped in mreelf. I went along further, to the right, but I found, it mj full of Turks. Mistaking mc for one of their own men. they started talking , to mc, so. having no wca.pon, I turned hank to the left. Finding no tract- of my mates I hopped back to our trench, whence I was tent c down to the dorter. - i ;