Neil to witness history
MIRBOO man Neil Andrews has been selected via ballot to attend the 2015 Gallipoli dawn service, as part of the centenary celebrations of the April 25 landing.
Mr Andrews’ grandfather Duncan Campbell enlisted with the 1st AIF on November 11, 1914 and embarked with the 88th Infantry, 5th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement on HMAT A46 Clan McGillivray bound for Egypt on February 2, 1915.
“He was injured by shell fragments to his right thumb and chin on April 25, and was evacuated and sent to Malta,” Mr Andrews said.
“My grandfather returned to Gallipoli in 1965 to mark 50 years. Four or five years ago, I thought I would like to go to celebrate the centenary.
“When we put our names in the ballot, we had to say we were direct descendants of a World War One veteran.”
Mr Andrews’ brother put his name in the ballot as well, but was unsuccessful. Out of 40,000 applications, just 8000 were chosen.
“It is hard to think about the number of Australians that went and how many didn’t return. I am not going there to glorify war; it is just a personal thing,” he said.
“My grandfather went back in 1965, and it was just one of those things where I thought, why not.”
After arriving in Egypt on March 10, 1915 Private Campbell was transferred to Mena Cap with his ‘C’ Company 5th Battalion.
The battalion arrived at Alexandra on April 4, and then sailed for Lemnos Island to train for 15 days for its landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
“My mother, who is 96 years old, is keener for me to go than ever. She is really pleased I can go to see where her father had been,” Mr Andrews said.
“She is a big history buff. The plan is to get to Gallipoli the night before the dawn service so we will have a good position. It will be quite busy from Istanbul.”
On the afternoon on April 24, 1915 the warships taking the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps sailed from Lemnos Island on the 60 mile trip to the peninsula.
The armada paused near Imbros Island until around 3am when the moon went down. Into the dark night, the Anzac forces went, landing at first light at Gaba-Tepe.
Private Campbell wrote of his injury in a diary: “Whilst walking along the shore (to the rear aid station), a Turk soldier on an embankment aimed his rifle at me. But I raised my bandaged hand to him and the Turk then lowered his rifle and let me pass.”
Private Campbell was then evacuated to Malta and then to England for convalescing. He returned to Australia on October 8, 1915 and was discharged on July 14, 1916.
Mr Andrews said when Mr Campbell returned from war, he went back into normal life.
“When I knew him, he worked at the post office in Wandin. Around that time there were a lot of Italian immigrants, who he helped with their paperwork,” he said.
“My father came to Mirboo in 1960 and Pop used to come down and visit regularly. He passed away in Mirboo North hospital.
“A lot of veterans don’t really talk about their time at war, but he really wasn’t there (Gallipoli) for very long.”
Mr Andrews is expecting the service to be moving.
“You have got to be proud of the men and women who went to war. The call was there and they volunteered to go,” he said.
“At the time, they thought it might be the war to end all wars, but that turned out to not be the case.
“I am going there in a way to represent my grandfather and his mates that have fallen. He must have felt the need to go back in 1965 to experience it again.
“I felt that I would like to do the same thing. It has been on my list for a little while, and it just seemed the right time to make it happen.”
Feeling proud: Neil Andrews from Mirboo has been selected to attend the Gallipoli dawn service in 2015, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landing.
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Posted by Sarah Vella on Jul 23 2014. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
