Walking around New Zealand cemeteries looking for the inscriptions which are the beginnings of stories, the same three place names repeat - Gallipoli, the Somme, Passchendaele. I have not written many stories of soldiers who died in these places as the stories would repeat themselves. And I do not think I can really add to the story of New Zealand soldiers on the hills of Gallipoli.
However, a friend of mine, currently in Europe, took the Anzac Day pilgrimage to the New Zealand memorial for the dawn of April 25th and sent me a photo of a plaque she found.
Robert Taylor was from the small country town of Waikaka and was working as a ploughman at Kakanui when he volunteered for the army on August 24th, 1914.
With the Otago Infantry Regiment he landed at Gaba Tepe on April 25th. From this day until his death, his story is that of the Regiment - his comapny, the 10th (North Otago) was the third to land, between 2.30pm and 4pm. Immediately they faced fire from Turkish infantry and light artillery. Bullets and shrapnel took a heavy toll, the unequal balance being levelled to an extent by six guns of the 26th Indian Mountain Battery which arrived at 5.30pm.
By the end of that day, casualties were estimated at 1500. Preparations for casualties were overwhelmed and the wounded lay on the beaches within reach of Turkish guns.
I do not know when Robert Taylor was wounded and how long he lay where he was placed until he died of his wounds. It could have been several days. I have found no details of what those wounds were. The last record of his 25 years on earth is admission to a NZ Field Ambulance hospital on the day that he died of wounds received in action.
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| Photo: Samantha Simmons. |
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