Descendants leaving for Gallipoli Centenary service
Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has farewelled decendants of WW1 soldiers who are this week travelling to Gallipoli for the Centenary Dawn Service on Anzac Day.
Yass resident Andy Cochrane whose father served in Gallipoli as a signaller with the 6th Light Horse Regiment says the trip will be an emotional one.
“My wife Ann and I will be at the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove and the later service at Lone Pine on Anzac Day. Because so many people will be there on the day there are pretty strict rules on when and how you can arrive. Most people coming to the Dawn Service will have to spend the entire night before at Gallipoli. We’ve been told there’s limited seating and only for those who get there first. But that’s alright for us. I’m very keen to see the topography of the place. My father was there, I want to see what he saw.”
Mr Cochrane’s father was shot in the arm while in Gallipoli and was later in action at Beersheba in 1917. He arrived home safely to Australia in 1919.
“It’s only as I’ve got older that I’ve appreciated what they went through - the ugliness of war. Dad got gassed and ended up a bad asthmatic for the rest of his life. It would have been much worse for those who were there at the Gallipoli landings. I’ve been to lots of dawn services here in Australia but this particular one at Anzac Cove will be a lot more dramatic,” he said.
Goulburn resident and army veteran Frank Wilcomes, whose grandfather Frank served in Gallipoli in the 9th Light Horse regiment, will be at Gallipoli on Anzac Day, as will retired naval captain James Morrice from the Southern Highlands, whose father served as a machine gunner in Gallipoli in the 13th battalion.
Mr Taylor said they would be emotionally charged events for those descendants able to pay tribute through personal attendance. The Federal Government held a ballot last year to allow as many direct descendants of Anzac soldiers as possible to attend Anzac Day in Gallipoli.
Caption: Angus Taylor farewelling Yass resident Andy Cochrane who will take replicas of his father’s British Medal, Victory Medal and 1915 Gallipoli Medal to the Dawn Service at Gallipoli this Anzac Centenary Day.
