Remembering Gallipoli
By Margaret Sheard….
Remembering Gallipoli – I am looking at this from 2 different aspects. The first is that on 25th April it will be the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign with the unnecessary loss of the lives of so many young men from UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. Not being an historian I will leave it to others who will no doubt recall the strategies used in this seemingly meaningless war. See article by a fellow-writer, Ismail Veli, by clicking here.
The second aspect I would like to write about is a personal visit to Gallipoli in 2012 with a group organised by the Royal British Legion Kyrenia Branch. We stayed in Çanakkale and had various excursions to places such as Troy, 
but the most memorable and emotional for me was the day we boarded a ferry and went across to the Gallipoli Peninsular where we visited many of the scenes of battle.
My most poignant memory of that day in Gallipoli was the visit to Anzac Cove, quite a small area of beach and at one point I stood there and looked around me trying to imagine what it must have been like for those Australian and New Zealand troops coming ashore under fire, some not even making it that far but being struck down in the water. There was no-one else on the beach as I stood there and it was so emotional, very still and quiet with just a murmur of voices in the distance from the other members of our party, no birds twittering, just total silence. Very eerie and yet very emotional.
Of course this terrible war was way before my time but these dreadful occurrences should not be forgotten and I wish I could be there for the 100th anniversary.
I have a friend in the UK, Bob Scott, who has written poems about the First World War and I mentioned Gallipoli to him and he decided to write a poem about this war which he has sent to a friend to be included in the website www.ww1cemeteries.com and they have enhanced the poem with a picture format. Both Bob Scott and the ww1cemeteries website have kindly given me permission to use the poem and format in this article, but please note both are copyright.
Great poem by Bob Scott, thank you Margaret Sheard for your article on this very emotional centenary of this unfortunate war !
Excellent piece of work by all by all contributors especially Kyreniacatkin for putting into an Excellent form. Well done you.
Hello Ismail I feel we have very similar Ideas in life, I was born in London just before ww2. I lived though the Blitz, I think this is what comes through in my poetry as my love of history.
Thank you for your kind words. Bob
I enjoyed this article very much. It goes to core of the feeling that there are no winners in war, only losers. I agree with Sermen, the poem is so beautifully written that one only feels saddened for the poor families that had to endure intolerable pain of losing their beloved children on the blood soaked field of battle.
Hi Stan, It seems all things are possible! when one puts there mind to it. Cheers Bob.
Another good article Bob I wish I had the touch it is great piece
Hello Stan, we have passed your comment on to Bob and no doubt he will reply. Bob like others have come to us with memories and together we have been able to share them with our readers. If you have some memories why not write to us via our contact page. Best wishes, Chris Elliott