7/18 Sergeant Stanley Joseph Bowker, (31/1/1896-21/8/1915). "an exceptionally fine type"

Sergeant S. J. Bowker.

Mrs C. Bowker, of "The Pines," College road, Timaru, has received advice that her son, Sergeant Stanley Bowker, had been killed at the Dardanelles. The late Sergeant Bowker was an exceptionally fine type of young man. He was born in Timaru and was 22 years of age. He was educated at the Timaru Main and High Schools, after which he went to Lincoln College, having decided to follow agricultural and pastoral pursuits. On leaving the College, he accepted an engagement with Mr John Withell, working first on the latter's Otipua and Ealing properties, and when the war broke out he was in charge of Mr Withell's Wairoa Estate, Hawke's Bay. Prior to going to the North Island he had been a member of the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles, in which body he held the rank of corporal, When the war broke out he lost no time in informing his employer that he considered his place was at the front, though he had no personal desire to go apart from the desire to do his duty. He accordingly came down to Timaru and joined his old regiment, leaving Timaru as a corporal, but subsequently gaining promotion to the rank of sergeant. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 21st. In his last letter to his mother he wrote: "If this war is to be over quickly, we must have more men. The more men we get, and the quicker we get them, the sooner will it be over,"  -North Otago Times, 16/9/1915.

An artillery bombardment had been promised, but at the last moment it was decided that the Anzac guns should assist the Suvla Bay attack. Punctually on time, 3.30 p.m., the men jumped from the trenches and raced down the hill. Casualties were numerous till comparative shelter was reached in the bottom of the dere. Then came the climb up the other side, a moment to gather breath, and the rush for the enemy trench 200 yards to the front. It was simply a ease of get there, and during the last part of this rush most of the casualties occurred. Major Hutton was wounded, and Major Hurst of the 1st Squadron took command. The Turks in the trench were killed, and a machine gun was captured and immediately turned upon the Turks by the two Harper brothers of the Machine Gun Section. Though the Australians managed to cross the ravine, they could not reach the enemy trenches; and on our left, despite the fact that the New Army troops had seized the Kabak well with a splendid charge and captured the long trench on the eastern side of the hill in their first rush, they failed to hold the ground they had won. The Canterbury Regiment with the Otagos were now holding about 120 yards of enemy trench with both flanks in the air, and with no means of communication across the exposed valley. Both regiments had lost over 60 per cent. of their number in the space of a quarter of an hour. With the depleted numbers it was impossible to go any further, and orders were received from General Russell that the trenches gained were to be consolidated and held. At dusk the enemy fire slackened, and the Regiment was able to get into touch with the Indian Brigade who were holding the captured wells on the flat.  -Official History of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles.

The assault on Hill 60 in August, 1915, was the last assault in the August Offensive at Gallipoli.  Its failure saw the end of offensive operations and the arrival of heavy trench mortars from Germany, which could not be countered by the flatter trajectory of naval shelling, was the beginning of the end on the Peninsula.