Troy antique city and Gallipoli Memorials are among the popular tour destinations especially for those who lost their loved ones in the World War I, map.
A good detailed excursion should include: Anzac Cove, Lone Pine Australian Memorial and Cemetery, warfare tunnels and trenches at Johnston Jolly, The Nek Cemetery, Chunuk-Bair New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery and Kabatepe War Museum.
To get to Gallipoli take a transport from Istanbul, about 4.5 hours.
"Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country
Therefore, rest in peace
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours
You, the mothers
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace
After having lost their lives on this land, they have
Become our sons as well"
M. KEMAL ATATURK, 1934
( The founder of Turkish Republic )
Mustafa Kemal in the trenches
A N Z A C T U R K E Y T O U R
Trenches being maintained
John Simpson Kirkpatrick, affectionately known as "the man and his donkey", was born on the 6th of July 1892 in South Shields, England.
He landed at ANZAC Cove at 5 a.m. on the 25th of April 1915 and was mortally wounded in Shrapnel Gully, near the mouth of Monash Valley, on the 19th of May 1915 at the age of 22.
During the 24 days he spent at ANZAC he operated as a sole unit with his beloved donkey/s and is credited with saving the lives of probably hundreds of men.
He has become a part of the ANZAC folklore and though recommended for the Victoria Cross, twice, and the Distinguished Conduct Medal, he was never decorated for his actions.
His friend Andy Davidson described him as "a big man and very muscular, though aged only 22 and was selected at once as a stretcher bearer... he was too human to be a parade ground soldier, and strongly disliked discipline; though not lazy he shirked the drudgery of ‘forming fours’, and other irksome military tasks" and "he was very witty, and inclined to the lazy, very popular, liked a pot or two but did not drink to excess, careless of dress and was a handful to Sgt. Hookway, his Section Sergeant."
Davidson said, "We covered his body and put it in a dugout beside the track and carried on with our job. We went back for him at about 6.30 p.m. and he was buried at 'Beach Cemetery on the same evening." Private Johnson made a simple wooden cross with the inscription "John Simpson".
