Pupils’ reflections on their trip to Gallipoli on the Gallipoli Association Bursary Tour June 2023 as presented by a group of them at The Gallipoli Association Annual Conference at the RAF Club on Saturday 7th October 2023.

Why did you want to go to Gallipoli?

Part of the reason I was so interested in the trip was that my Grandfather’s uncle fought and died in the Campaign. It was very interesting for me to find out more about him when I was there and also to visit the places he fought in and where he eventually died. It was also interesting to learn about the soldiers from the area local to our school, especially those from Herne Hill who fought at Gallipoli.  I think this added a nice depth and link to our lives in the present.

I would like to read a short poem in regards to the many that died in Gallipoli.  This was sent to me by my late Grandfather after I asked about his connections to the campaign. It is called “I will Pass through the Piassia di Spagna” by Cesare Pavese.

“The mornings pass clear and deserted. Just so your eyes opened, once, and the morning transpired. Was a gorge of immobile light. Was silent. You lived and were silent; things came to life under your eyes not pain, not fever, not shadow, but as the sea in the morning, clear”

How did you prepare for the Gallipoli Tour?

Before going on the trip -:

We learnt about the reasons for attacking Gallipoli. It was mainly to knock Turkey out of the war as the Turkish Empire was seen as weak at this time and an easy target. It was hoped that by attacking Turkey it would relieve pressure on the Western Front

We learnt about the amphibious landings at Anzac and other beaches with troops loaded onto boats and landing at five beaches under heavy fire from rifles and artillery from the Turks on the cliffs.  As a result many died.  Later on in the campaign many soldiers died from disease which caused major problems.  The whole campaign was a huge failure apart from the evacuation where we leant about clever tactics such as the self firing rifle.

What experiences on the trip made a deep impression on you?

I would say overall my impression of Gallipoli was quite breathtaking and a very useful learning experience.

The Gallipoli Campaign was a land based element of a strategy intended to allow Allied ships to pass through the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople and ultimately knock Ottoman Turkey out of the war. It is special because it was the first major amphibian operation in modern warfare

Gallipoli Turkey is a beautiful country with a tragic past. When I went there with my school trip I learnt so much about its barbaric past and how local to my school some of the soldiers were. In taking this new knowledge and actually standing in some of the trenches it really felt like I was there in the confused conflict.  We visited several graves and learned about the individual stories of the soldiers.  It was quite surreal and I will never forget it.

Why do you think it is important to go to Gallipoli today?

Gallipoli represented a difficult challenge for the Allied troops and it also defined the bravery and determination of the soldiers. There were also intricate personal stories that should be remembered because of the heavy casualties and terrible conditions that defined the worst of trench warfare, which leads to my point of why we it is important to remember Gallipoli today. We all have to remember that these heroic troops were real people with their own families and their own lives and what they liked to do and what they enjoyed - just like us.  It is also significant and important to remember not just the victory by the Turks but more so the horrifying events soldiers had to endure throughout it.  When I was there it was the closest I have ever felt and caused me to reflect about it   is extremely hard to comprehend how it actually might have been for the people involved which is why it is important to remember the history behind Gallipoli even nowadays where battles from the past tend to be swept away, those worthy of attention and just what might it have been like if the Turkish had not won. To end my point is I would just like to say that I think we should continue to keep the memory of Gallipoli alive and carry on teaching about it so that we might acquire knowledge of what happened and persist tin spreading their expertise to make sure that Gallipoli is never forgotten – and we are a prime example of this!

How did you work as a team?

We went to the Helles Memorial which serves as both a memorial for the Gallipoli Campaign whilst also commemorating those who lost their lives and have no known graves. The memorial holds over 21,000 names listed by unit on panels around the stone walls.

Several of the men listed on the Helles Memorial were born and grew up in our local area in Dulwich and we worked in teams to try and find their names so we could remember them individually.

Private Stanley Lovell Dubery enrolled at Jessop School, Herne Hill (where several of our peers went to primary school) and was orphaned before adolescence. He enlisted just months after war broke out and was wounded on May 5th at Anzac Cove. He died in a Field Ambulance on Anzac beachhead on the same day. Finding his grave at Beach Cemetery was incredibly exhilarating as not only had we been looking for some time but it is quite possible that we had been the first and only people ever to recognise his name.

We also walked through the mountain on the warmest day of our trip when the weather reached a high of 39 degrees. It was on this scorching day that we had the best insight into the comradeship required for soldiers to maintain high spirits.  Here we were, merely tourists, having to motivate each other onwards and yet the thought of enduring such sweltering heat while being surrounded by disease and the threat of shellfire was unimaginable.

The serene beauty of the landscape around us stood in stark contrast to the grim realities of war; making us even more grateful for the peace and safety we so often take for granted.