In November 2023, Mike Guilfoyle passed away… one of the many valuable people I met through my interest in the First World War. It started with a headstone for Hugh Gordon Langton at Poelcapelle British Cemetery… a very special headstone with musical
Return to Anzac in 1936
Field-Marshal Sir William Birdwood, described his return to Anzac in 1936 in a letter to Joseph Lyons, the Australian Prime Minister. This, his first visit since the evacuation, was part of the tour organised by Albert Cordwell and Cecil Clark.
Gallipoli Graves
Australian Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce undertook a tour of the cemeteries on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1924. He had served as a Captain in the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers during the campaign. “Gallipoli Graves “Visited by Mr. Bruce “No Speeches
Pilgrimage to Gallipoli
A 1936 pilgrimage to Gallipoli by 620 British veterans, their families and friends, including Sir William Birdwood and Sir Roger Keyes, incorporated a visit to Istanbul. While there they visited Taksim, laying a wreath at the memorial, “In honoured memory
Pilgrimage to Gallipoli 2
Concluding his account of the 1936 tour to Gallipoli and Salonika, Albert Cordwell described visiting Cape Helles, then still covered in the debris of war, where they laid wreaths at the Helles Memorial; the hospitality enjoyed in Greece and Yugoslavia,
“The Turkish Defender of Gallipoli.
Ernest Peacock was probably the first westerner to interview Mustafa Kemal after the end of the war. “His Excellency, General Mustapha Kemal Pasha, is the General who was responsible for the defence, at first of Ari Burnu (Anzac Cove) and
Trooper Duncan McDougall
On a trip to Gallipoli In September 23 with Peter Hart Battlefield Tours we had a member of the group from Australia. Tony Anderson was visiting a number of WW1 battlefields and at Hill 60 Cemetery he carefully buried three