Former Christ’s College Boys at Gallipoli

As this time of Remembrance it may be of interest to Centarians that the Headmaster incorporated the following text into his address at the Cadet Remembrance Day Parade on Sunday.

In October 2008 a small group of Old Finchleians and, more specifically, ex-cadets and members of the cadet Centarian Regimental Association, visited the First World War battlefields on the Gallipoli Peninsular in Turkey.

In 1915 this campaign had seen some fierce fighting with terrible casualties being experienced by both the Turkish defenders and the Allied invading forces consisting mainly of British, Australian and New Zealand troops. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) which landed there are commemorated in many military cemeteries in the area situated above Anzac Cove which Turkey recognizes as a memorial site and which is visited every year by ANZACs on 25th April, Anzac Day, the day of the initial landings.

Research by Old Finchleian President, Mike Crick had revealed that two ex-pupils of Christ’s College, named on the School War Memorial, had lost their lives in this campaign. The group of Centarians consisting of Brian Fuller, David Groom and John Millen discovered the whereabouts of these two boys – not much older than senior boys in the school today.

Eric Wyatt Patton who was at CCF from 1906 to 1910 had joined the 3rd Battalion of the Australian Infantry, died on 9th May 1915 and is remembered on the Memorial to the Missing in Lone Pine Cemetery just above the landing beaches at Anzac Cove.

George Horace Smith was also at CCF from 1905 to 1907. He joined the 8th Battalion of the Australian Infantry and died on 27th April 1915, aged 22, just two days after the landings and is buried in Shell Green Cemetery also just above Anzac Cove.

On Anzac Day in 1985 near the landing beaches a memorial was unveiled which contains the famous reconciliation statement made in 1934 by Turkish leader, Kemal Ataturk:-

“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 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”.