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)
The sun was preparing itself on the horizon. Muffled
oars dipped. Men pulled their great-coats closer around them and adjusted the
straps of their packs. Cold hands clung to their weapons. Hearts thumped. They
didn’t marvel at the soft golden fingers of dawn creeping towards them.
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.
Australian War Memorial collection - showing hospital in the foreground
We know from birth records that Norman was 19 when he was killed, although his enlistment papers show his age as 22. During the First World War, the minimum enlistment age was 21 years, or 18 years with the permission of a parent or guardian. Therefore we assume that his parents didn't know he had enlisted, or hadn't given their permission for him to enlist. It was a common practise. On the Australian War Memorial web site is a list of boy soldiers who died before their 18th birthday during World War 1. Australian War Memorial - Boy Soldiers
** 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:
ANZAC Day 2024
Remote Sunrise Reminders - ANZAC Day 2023
ANZAC Day dawn service - 2022
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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 |
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Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy and be with people who make you smile.
