It turns out that Rod Stewart, one of our fellow travellers on the tour, is also a fellow blogger. Rod’s grandfather Edward John Howells served at Gallipoli where he was evacuated injured. He later re-entered the war and served in the Palestine Campaign where he was awarded the Military Cross for “great determination, skill and coolness under fire.” Rod will be blogging about his experiences on the tour.

A view of the pontoon bridge constructed by Australian Engineers in the face of opposition by the enemy, who were strongly entrenched. B02735

Before joining the battlefield tour Rod made a trip to Jordan and visited the site where his Grandfather, on the night of 21 March 1918, earned his Military Cross. The Jordan in 1918 was in high flood, halting the British forces who were unable to cross. Under heavy Turkish fire, Edward Howells with his men constructed the first bridge, a pontoon bridge, across the river. The bridge allowed the British forces to cross the river and attack the Turkish forces from the rear. One of the pontoons from this bridge is held in the Memorial’s collections.

The story is written in some detail in the Official History: H S Gullett, The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914-1918.

Reaching Constantinople (present day Istanbul) was the objective of the Dardanelles campaign in 1915. An objective that failed. The battlefield tour, however, managed to arrive safely at Istanbul airport in high spirits and only slightly crumpled from the long flight. We checked into the Marmara hotel to ‘freshen up’ and in the afternoon we set off to cruise on the Bosphorus followed by a visit to the Egyptian Spice Market.

Cruise on the Bosphorus

Istanbul straddles two continents, from the boat you can look one way and see Asia and the other Europe. This fortress is located at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus Strait on the Asian shore. It is part of the Istanbul city walls that date from the 5th Century and stretch seven kilometres from the sea of Mamara to the Golden Horn.

Spice Bazaar established in 1597

Those of us travelling with the Memorial on the Gallipoli battlefield tour arrived in Istanbul today following a long journey from our various home ports. On a flight of over 22 hours it is inevitable that conversations would be struck and I met several Australians also travelling to Gallipoli. For the first leg of the trip I sat next to an Australian Vietnam war veteran. He was planning on touring the battlefields and to attend the Dawn Service at Gallipoli. Later after I had changed flights at Singapore international airport for the journey to Istanbul I sat next to a large group from the town of Robinvale, Victoria who were also briefly travelling to Gallipoli but were heading to their town’s sister city, Villers-Bretonneux, France to commemorate Anzac Day there.

The Memorial’s annual battlefield tour commences this Sunday with several members of the Memorial preparing to set off for the trip. Ashley Ekins, Head of the Military History Section will lead our Gallipoli tour and Nick Fletcher, Senior Curator in Heraldry and Technology will lead the Western Front tour. We will be walking many of the historic battle sites and commemorating Anzac Day with the Dawn Service at Gallipoli and the Australian National Ceremony at Lone Pine. This year is the 90th anniversary of many major battles fought in 1918. The tour will visit Villers-Bretonneux for example, where on the 25 April 1918, a major battle was fought. This year is also the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day.

Ninety years on these battlefield sites still live on in our hearts and memories and those Australians who lost their lives there are not forgotten. I have two poppies to place on this tour one on behalf of an elderly relative the other for a friend.

Throughout the tour I hope to make regular posts about our progress. This is my first battlefield tour but not my first venture into blogging for the Memorial. As the assistant curator of the exhibition Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, I regularly posted articles and biographies for the exhibition blog. I will be taking my laptop and camera to Gallipoli and the Western Front and hope to post regular updates, photographs and stories from the tour. I am also hoping to post some small biographies for those on the tour who have a family history connection to the First World War.

On Tuesday 18 March, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs announced the winners of the Simpson Prize for 2008.  The Simpson Prize is a national competition for year 9 and 10 students which sees eight students, one from each State and Territory, accompanied by two teachers, flown to Gallipoli to attend the Dawn Service and other ANZAC Day ceremonies. The students travelling to Turkey will be contributing to the Memorial blog to share the experiences of their trip. 

The Memorial provides a battlefield tour guide for the group and hosted a visit for both winner and runner-up students  touring the galleries and behind-the-scenes areas. 

For a list of the students and their winning entries see http://www.afssse.asn.au/simpson/simpson_current.htm