Philip Lecane - Beneath a Turkish Sky: The Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Assault on Gallipoli

Dedicated to

my wife Kate ( ne Grant); my father Philip;

my mother Eileen ( ne OBrien) 19321994;

Nora Byrne; Rita and Donal ODriscoll;

Gaye and Norman ONeill, friends who stood beside me.

The book is also in memory of two Dubliners who wrote of men caught up in war:

my inspiration, Cornelius Ryan 19201974,
author of The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far ,

and my friend, Patrick Hogarty 19262005,
author of Remembrance and The Old Toughs .

Twas better to die neath an Irish sky

than at Suvla or Sud-el-Bahr.

The Foggy Dew

Holding down a full-time non-academic job, this book has taken me nine years to write. Many people have helped me over that time and I am very grateful to them all. My wife Kates love and support sustained me when the going was tough. She has always believed in the book. She was a war widow during the lengthy periods I spent on the computer writing or on the internet. I know she will be glad that I have returned from V Beach.

Life blessed me with amazing parents, my father, Philip, and my late mother, Eileen. My father showed me that life can contain magic and my mother showed me it can contain joy. Being the son of a wholesale newsagent gave me access to an Aladdins cave of books and my mother took me to the cinema from a young age both fuelled my imagination.

Nora Byrne, Rita and Donal ODriscoll, Gaye and Norman ONeill were there for me when I most needed support and I will always be grateful for this. It is a very great honour to have Dr Jeff Kildea, the holder of the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin, write the foreword to this book. The author of the excellent Anzacs and Ireland , he is a rarity among Australian historians, in having a knowledge and understanding of Irish participation in the Gallipoli campaign. The Gallipoli Three , Mike Lee, Michael Robson and Dave Neenan helped me in so many ways. As well as being excellent company, the two Michaels were very generous with their time and always willing to help with research. Both were there for me during the final push towards publication. Mike and Sally Lee are incredibly hospitable and I have come to think of their house as my second home. Also excellent company, Dave helped me over rough terrain in Gallipoli prior to my hip replacement operation and over the metaphorical rough terrain that was the final phase of the book. He assembled an exercise bike to keep me going on rainy days and a television table to ensure I did not get too much exercise. I am very grateful to Ken Kinsella, author of Out of the Dark 19141918 , who was amazingly supportive during my push towards publication. With their encyclopaedic knowledge of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, my good friends Liam and Conor Dodd displayed terrier-like persistence in tracking down numerous items of information for me. Special thanks are due to my fellow Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association committee members: Tom Burke MBE, Nick Broughall, Sen Connolly, Captain Samus Greene (retired), and Brian Moroney. Tom was a trailblazer in commemorating the Irish who served in the First World War; Nick has always shared with me a particular interest in Gallipoli; Sen mans the associations website and put me in contact with the relatives of some of the V Beach men; Samus was hugely supportive in seeking out photographs and illustrations, for which I am very grateful; and Brian plans the associations overseas expeditions, ensuring everything runs on time. Unusual for a regimental sergeant-major, he does amazing work on keeping up our morale and makes us laugh until our sides ache. I owe a very particular debt of gratitude to the late Pat Hogarty, who was also a committee member. His book Remembrance: A Brief History of The Blue Caps The 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers 1914-1922 was an invaluable source for my book. Chris Holland and Tony Jordans book The Story Behind the Monument: The 29th Division in Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire January-March 1915 was another invaluable source. I would also like to thank Tony Jordan for his very great kindness to me during my research. Thanks too to my fellow author Denise Deegan for her forensic editing of much of the book. Her comments and suggestions were most helpful. I am deeply grateful to Professor Lucienne Thys-enocak of Ko University, Istanbul, Turkey, for her very great kindness to me in sharing aspects of her research. The information she gave me on the castle at V Beach added greatly to the story. To Dr Piotr Nykier for taking the time and trouble to send me high quality photographs from his excellent website Unfortunately, pressure of space did not allow their publication, with priority being given to photographs of men mentioned in the text. To Steve Chambers for his kindness in providing photographs from his personal collection. To Peter Hart for his kind permission to reproduce his map of Gallipoli.

To members of The Great War Forum website, I owe a very great debt of gratitude, a matter I address in greater detail in my authors preface. For now, I will particularly mention three members of the Forum. Kate Willis for the eight-year loan of one of her valuable books, to a First World War researcher she has never met; Simon Riches for his research in the Liddle Archives on the trail of Captain John Kerr, original captain of the River Clyd e; John Hartley for sharing his research on the footballer-musician Samuel Clough. The Great War Forum not only gave me very valuable information for this book but it also introduced me to some good friends: the previously mentioned Michael Robson, Eric Goossens who, with his wife zlem, runs by far the best accommodation on the Gallipoli peninsula (see www.thegallipolihouses.com). Eric provided me with much valuable Gallipoli information and accompanied Mike Lee, Michael Robson, Dave Neenan and me on very interesting field trips on the peninsula. The Forum also introduced me to Lyn and Keith Edmonds, who were hugely supportive as I worked towards publication. They surely merit the Gallipoli Long Service Medal as the people who have visited the peninsula the greatest number of times. My thanks to David Buckley of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association for the extended loan of material from his collection and to Austin Fennessy of the Medal Society of Ireland for the extended loan of The Incomparable 29th and the River Clyde .

With the names of their relatives in brackets, I am very grateful to the following for personal stories: Jim Bowskill (Leading Stoker William Bowskill); Linda Carter (Edward Nugent); David Christmas (Arthur Wright); Michael Constant (Interpreter Maurice Constanini); Brian Filbey (Stephen Filbey), unfortunately, loss of contact with Brian meant I was unable to get the story of Stephens later life; Ray Ludford (Michael Ludford); Letitia Pollard (Gerald Pollard); and Pam Smith (Harry Fox). My particular thanks to Hilary Tulloch ( ne Grimshaw) for inviting me to her home, where she shared information and family mementoes of Cecil Grimshaw. I greatly appreciate her patience with my many detailed questions, I am very grateful for her generous assistance in the final push towards publication. Brian Dodds for the tour of the parts of Newry associated with Sam and Jack Mallaghan. Roger Hutchinson, for his ongoing kindness and helpfulness with my queries about Sam and Jack. Gloria Hutchinson for her eleventh-hour dash to solve a riddle. Warrant Officer (retired) Myles Smyth for his unfailing courtesy, patience and humour in answering my many queries about Nicholas Smyth. Again, pressure of space did not always allow me to include all his information in the book. While uncertain whether I would be interested in his story, because her grandfather was not an Irishman, Lyn Edmonds readily gave me her research on Benjamin Hurt. He was a Dub and fought at V Beach, Lyn, so he is part of the story. Thank you to Captain Howard Cook for information on his grandfather Ormond Cook, owner of the SS River Clyde .