GALLIPOLI REVISITED

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 140, 15 June 1936, Page 11

GALLIPOLI REVISITED

" A letter has been received at Akaroa from' Petty-Officer J. H. Hodgson, of H.M.A.S. Sydney, in which he describes his recent visit to Gallipoli, states the "Christchurch Star-Sun." He served aboard H.M.S. Russell during the Great War, both in the Gallipoli campaign and in the evacuation, and later the same vessel went down -with a loss- of over two hundred lives after it had struck two mines. He writes: "In company with H.M.A.S. Australia, on April 28, 1936, we arrived at the entrance of the Dardanelles, twenty-one years after the famous landing of the Australian and New Zealand troops. We passed by Cape Helles and saw the wreck of the River Clyde, and after anchoring in Khalia' Lemin Bay, opposite Chanak, we were warmly greeted by the Turkish War Graves Commission. Half of the crew from each ship was landed, equipped with food and water for a six-mile tramp through broken country to Anzac Cove, where,, with the combined bands from both" ships, we held a service at the Black Cemetery. The service was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Henderson, from H.M.A.S. Australia, and members of the Turkish Delegation, who were also present, placed a wreath on the memorial. Afterwards we were allowed to roam on the battle front. The land is very rough and is covered with gorse bushes. We found many relies which made our hearts beat faster. There were dozens of unexploded Turkish shells, and one man found a pair of field glasses in perfect order. On the famous 'Lone Pine' we discovered a dump of hand-made grenades made from milk tins, all rusty with age. Later we visited several other cemeteries such as Shrapnel Gully, Hell's Spit, and other well-remembered names. Several of the men recognised the burial plots of relatives lost in the campaign, through the small headstones. All the graves were well cared for by Turkish ex-soldiers."