Last Friday, 25th April, across the world, Australians and New Zealanders commemorated ANZAC Day - our national day born from the World War One 1915 landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Türkiye ** and remembered the supreme sacrifice of so many across far too many wars. Not only those killed during the wars, but those whom came home broken in body and spirit.
Below is a group portrait of all the original officers and men of the 11th Battalion, 3rd Brigade, AIF (Australian Imperial Force). The group of over 685 soldiers are spread over the side of the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) near Mena camp was originally lent to the Australian War Memorial in the 1930s by Colonel K McLennan MBE. Australian War Memorial collection
On this day I remember my great-uncle Norman Albert Clayden who was killed at Gallipoli only two days after the landing. Last year on 11 November - Remembrance Day - I wrote the following piece from a prompt from my writer's group. I thought I would share it with you today.
Home Writing – 11 November 2024
Prompt - The sun was preparing itself on the horizon – (quote
from David Pollock's book – Wooleen Way)
Lance Corporal Norman Albert Clayden of the 11th
Battalion felt every muscle tense. His eyes strained to see the beach, from
where he could hear the unmistakable sound of gunfire coming across the
water. Nothing had prepared him for
this.
The boat ran aground and at the order the men
jumped over the gunnels into waist deep water, struggled to get a firm foot
hold, and waded through the wash as it pulled and dragged at their legs. A
bombardment of bullets struck the water all around them. Men fell. Blood
stained the water.
Norman’s breath rasped in his throat as he
stumbled up the beach, soaking wet and weighed down by his rifle and sodden
pack. He threw himself onto the sand as bullets rained down. Chaos. Orders were
tossed into the air.
"Get up Clayden! Get moving!"
Ahead of him men were already clambering up the
cliff, grabbing at bushes, dragging boxes of ammunition, digging their bayonets
into the earth as they climbed under the constant unrelenting gunfire.
Impossible. A world away from where Norman had enlisted only seven months before in
rural Western Australia.
At dawn on 27th April, pinned down by enemy fire in a pothole on his way to reinforce an outpost in Wire Gully, Norman was shot in the head. He was 19. He has no known grave. His name is engraved on the war memorial at the Lone Pine Cemetery at Gallipoli.
** While English speakers have historically referred to the country as Turkey, it has been spelled and pronounced Türkiye (Tur-kee-yeah) in Turkish since the establishment of the modern Turkish republic in 1923. Ref: sbs.com.au
We also today think about my husband's uncle Richard Ramsden who died in a prisoner of war camp in Myanmar (Burma) on 29th October 1943 in World War 2 - aged 23 - buried at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Mynanma - a place where his family have never been able to visit as it is in a restricted zone.
I have many more posts about ANZAC Day. Here are just a few:
Remote Sunrise Reminders - ANZAC Day 2023
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| View from Lone Pine Cemetery, Gallipoli - photo taken by my sister Jen Shearing |
A beautiful sunrise as we left the Dawn Service on ANZAC Day.
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.
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| my sister at Lone Pine memorial |
Thank you for sharing such a powerful and moving tribute that vividly honors your great-uncle Norman’s bravery and captures the deep personal sacrifices remembered on ANZAC Day.
ReplyDeleteThankyou. The dawn service brings me to tears every year.
Delete...a solomon day of remembrance!
ReplyDeleteIt's Sunday afternoon, it's a good time to write comments...
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy about your participation in MosaicMonday again.
I read with interest the Post. And it makes me very thoughtful. Yes, we should reflect from time to time. Your great-uncle at 19 years old a victim in a senseless war... oh, that's very sad,
Thank you for being part at MosaicMonday. Have a wonderful week.
Greetings by Heidrun
PS: By the way, we didn't meet Kate Winslet or Leonardo DiCaprio ;) during our visit to the Titanic exhibition.
Hello Jill,
ReplyDeleteA wonderful tribute post for Anzac Day. The sunrise image is lovely.
Take care, have a great day and happy week ahead.
So poignant and brave reading about your great Uncle Norman, and oh so young. Lest we forget indeed and I can see from your writing that he and your husband's uncle are very much in your thoughts today. Your writing very much captures the spirit of Anzac Day so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely week Jill
Wren x
It's so awful. Such a futile waste of life. My Grandfather went but refused to march in parades or talk about it. He did go to the dawn service while he was able. He had ill health from the gas in the trenches. The few stories he did tell were terrible. I am glad your sister went to the cemetery. The photos are lovely. I didn't know about the Boy Soldiers cemetery but that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteGreat tribute post, Jill.
ReplyDeleteOnce again it is showing the madness of war. You come from the other side of the world to die in a foreign country.....madness. Let´s always remember this ...but obviously mankind does not learn.
ReplyDeleteHave a good time and all the best
Violetta