11th manchesters. gallipoli

[mack]

pte william statham.
on 21st aug 1915,we were in support of our attack on the turkish lines,we were detailed to carry ammo to chocolate hill from our 2nd line,we were mid way up,when the turks began shelling us very heavily,we reached our front line and were told to stay and help with the defence,the turks threw bombs and began attacking,the order to retire was given and we scattered wildly back across the open ground to our 2nd line,i was one of the last to leave,on the way down the gully,i found pte daniel smith,he was badly wounded by bits of shrapnel,and shot in the right thigh by an explosive bullet,he was bleeding very badly and could not walk and we had to leave him otherwise we would have been caught between our fire and the turks,later on when we regained the ground,we were ordered to bury the dead and recover the wounded,we found pte smiths body,and we buried him

pte john,thomas slack 21st aug
i was running down the gully after the turks attacked,and came across pte smith,he was wounded badly in the head,he seemed to be breathing his last breath,we could not stop to pick him up,the stretcher bearers could not get to him because of the shelling,then on 23ed aug after it had calmed down,we returned to the spot and i found him dead,around him were 7 dead turks.

pte chris wright 21st aug
on our way back to our 2nd line,we were heavily shelled by the turks and they began to attack,pte smith was hit in the head and face by shrapnel,i got back to our lines and stayed there till the morning of the 22nd aug,when we returned on 23rd aug,we found him dead along with many others and we began to bury them

pte 9604 daniel smith,123 barmouth st,bradford,manchester
pte 3748 william statham.556 oldham rd,bardsley,ashton[DOW 26-4-17]
pte 13453 charles wright,29 poplar st,middleton
pte 13466 john,thomas slack.

[liverpool annie]

Sounds like they all felt guilty leaving Daniel .... must be awful to be in that position ! 

[mack]

they were not feeling guilty,they were replying to letters sent by daniels wife alice,she made extensive enquiries concerning his whereabouts,she traced ptes slack,wright and statham who were with daniel at the time,she was told by the war office,that daniel was wounded and missing,she had hoped he may have been taken prisoner,the three privates wrote to her and explained that he was to badly wounded to have survived very long,pte statham gave her an exact description of the man he buried just so there was no mistake and alice confirmed that it was daniel.
pte slack wrote from 3rd western gen hospital,cardiff,where he was lying wounded,pte statham was lying in st.james auxillery hospital,liverpool with frost bitten feet and pte wright wrote from the lancashire military convalescent hospital,blackpool
they were under attack and being pounded by shell fire,there was nothing they could do for him.
although he was given a proper burial along with some of his comrades,daniel and the other 16 men who were missing assumed killed on the same day,have no known grave,except lieutenant hugh campbell,he was found and buried in green hill cemetery,its possible that they are also buried in this cemetery amongst the unknown,there are 2971 soldiers buried there and 2472 are unknowns,most died in the fighting around green hill+chocolate hill
pte 13337 thomas,goodwin midwood was also badly wounded and had to be left behind

pte 13337 thomas,goodwin midwood
son of thomas,horsfal+alice,jane midwood,6 mona st,ramsey,IOM.

[liverpool annie]

I'm sitting here shaking my head Mack !  thats some excellent detail ..... !

Thanks for sharing it !

[Wendi]

I thinks this is what makes "Mack's Miscellany" such a valuable addition to this forum.  It brings back the simple tragedy in a "real time" way. 

So valuable for the future, and for it's raw history.  Thanks Mack 

Wendi