Booklet Recalls Valour Of Anzacs On Gallipoli

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27641, 23 April 1955, Page 6

Booklet Recalls Valour Of Anzacs On Gallipoli

“But of Anzac itself I want you to remember that of the 8556 New Zealanders who actually fought on~ it, 7477 died or were wounded. You may forget about the numbers of the officially sick. That total means nothing. The whole force became sick. Sick men still fought. In that August fighting on Gallipoli, which became the culmination of all fury, many of our ■men were so weak of body because of privations which today seem incredible, that they stumbled or fell as they pressed forward. Real courage isn t just an act of daring; it’s carrying on. That’s what the Anzacs did. We may express tribute in stone to their memory; but it is their spirit that will endure even longer in history. Their name liveth for evermore." With these words New Zealand's first winner of the Victoria Cross in the First World War (Cyril R. G. Bassett) ends a moving account of his two visits to Gallipoli—in 1915 and 1948—in “Gallipoli Recalled,” a 34page booklet published by the Wel-

Ve J erans ’ Association in commemoration of the fortieth anniXprn r 25° f ‘ he AnZaC Landi "S in I .'? ing S rm . y ot volunteers, r h ri™T » l of i, N £ w Zealan <l’s manhood, 1 v? or i 1 think there were many men who khew real fear—l mean the fear °f Personal safety. Rather did we feel a dread that we might not measure up, that we would show fear," Mr Bassett X ay w '.Oothat first day and nTghl on Walkers Ridge and the Nek our sfio ? k ot the counterattack. Had they given way, it would have been the end .... But I think thlt S rJ rit of , Anza j- went deeper than that. It was to endure. There was the cramping grimness, the starvation to? good food, the thirst, the lack of rest an< ? sleep, the lice-ridden holes into which men crawled and -lived, the flies, the unwashed clothes that became rags, the, stench of corruption. ftmv «h/ > Ji tn r n ? ,e ii ed L out-armed, woefully short of shells, bombs, and medical supplies, their bodies riddled by the amoebae of the fouled earth, once they won a place they stayed there The Turk never shitted them " ■ine booklet contains many nhotoand reproductions of painring, which will recall Gallipoli vividly to those who were there. There is an article by Sir Alexander Godley who commanded the New Zealand Army 1914 -?.9’ 8 ’ extracts from the preface, written by Sir lan Hamilton to M Fre v V ai * e ’ s official history, New ?u eal ? nd ? rs at Gallipoli," an article on the battle of Chunuk Bair and an article on “The Fellowshin nf Sacrifice" by W. F. Stilwell now Judge Stilwell. There is a full fist printed from Major White's history of of th£°rai!?J!?H tant dates and events ol ,jm e Gallipoli campaign. The booklet is sponsored bv Mr James Stellin, vice-president of the association, m memory of his son Pilot Officer James Steilin/Croix de Gueree and palm, who was killed on air £* ance in 1944 ’ and it is dedicated to the memory of FieldMarshal Lord Birdwood, who comUnd de A the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the whole of the Gallipoli campaign. t J° r who served on Gallipoli, this booklet will be a treasured souvenir of what was at -once a most s hL Cfmmmgn and a proud chanter ? n . the mstorv of a very young Dohumon. For those who came after it e„„ „ el 7 e as a . reminder of the sacrifice made so willingly and so lavishly and so unflinchingly. J