Gallipoli Peninsula - Turkey
Plaque quoting 
Ann and Bill at one of the ceme-teries - there are many scat-tered over the battlefield and reserved for the dead from different nations. We are a bit more smiley than we were feeling at the site.
Burial sites and two Aussie graves of the hundreds that are on the peninsula.
Burial sites and two Aussie graves of the hundreds that are on the peninsula.
Lone Pine was one of the major battles.
The two photos below show the national park area that was set aside by the Turkish government. They show what the Allies were facing as they landed. The bluffs were right at the ANZAC landing site. The Turks were dug in on the hills (see photos above of trenches today and one of the hills the Turks never gave up.) The Allied commander had his headquarters at one of the Greek Islands south of the battlefield and had little idea of what the terrain was or what was happening. The British fleet first tried to sail up the Dardanelles (Hellespont - Troy is on the other side from Gallipoli) to get supplies to the Russians. After losing half their battleships to mines, decided on a landing to attack Istanbul and the control the Straits from the land side. Fighting went on for almost nine months, nothing was achieved, the Russians got no supplies from the Allies through the Dardanelles, and surrendered to the Germans. The Communists under Lenin soon took power.
Memorial Day 2010
Troy and Mycenae - another war story. Also, a great and memorable place to visit full of links to ancient Greek history and pleasant time in 1963-4 and 1968.
The two photos below show the national park area that was set aside by the Turkish government. They show what the Allies were facing as they landed. The bluffs were right at the ANZAC landing site. The Turks were dug in on the hills (see photos above of trenches today and one of the hills the Turks never gave up.) The Allied commander had his headquarters at one of the Greek Islands south of the battlefield and had little idea of what the terrain was or what was happening. The British fleet first tried to sail up the Dardanelles (Hellespont - Troy is on the other side from Gallipoli) to get supplies to the Russians. After losing half their battleships to mines, decided on a landing to attack Istanbul and the control the Straits from the land side. Fighting went on for almost nine months, nothing was achieved, the Russians got no supplies from the Allies through the Dardanelles, and surrendered to the Germans. The Communists under Lenin soon took power.
Memorial Day 2010
Hi all - This is report #2 on the cruise. Memorial Day weekend seemed an appropriate time to send some pictures and thoughts about one of the most meaningful stops of the criuse. We were scheduled to go to both Troy and Gallipoli - two famouns battle sites - on the same day. The ship was late arriving and we had to choose. Mom said Gallipoli and I, after a bit of hesitation, after all, I taught about Troy for 30 +years, I went to Gallipoli also. I am so glad I did. Troy has been and is in my mind, Gallipoli will be. The two locations reflect so much about humans, our animal roots, our noblest moments, our devotion to causes and to our fellow beings, to our failure to learn lessons, and ability to repeat mistakes such as attacking territory with no grasp of the geography. As you may realize, I am a pacifist at heart but I do appreciate the bonding, the sacrfices for others, the need to take a moral stand, that war entails. Troy and Gallipoli illustrate all of these factors.
In addition, Gallipoli hit me in several other areas that made it very emotional. Dad was involved in the creation of the American cemeteries in Europe after World War II and that whole chapter of my life came back as we visited cemeteries at Gallipoli. Also, ideas about my military service, various disagreements with my father, and my intolerance of leaders who do not have a full understanding of what they are doing, whirled around in my head.
We are both reading the Iliad at the moment - it has been 62 years sine I read it cover to cover. It is an amazing work if you can avoid getting bogged down in all the names, but see it as a commentary on war - I read it as anti-war but many don't. The war was, at its roots, a trade war but Helen makes a better story. Ten years and what was achieved? Glory for a few and a type of glory,of testing, that is terribly important for men as I see it, but there are other means of gaining it. There are some great insights and emotional/personal moments in the Iliad. I recommend it as a base for much of western literature and a study in psychology.
Anyway, these are some Memorial Day thoughts provoked by a delightful cruise and one of the most though provoking sites we visited.
Hope you are all having a good weekend. Hoping to hear soon about DI Globals. Hope it was fun.
Dad
Troy and Mycenae - another war story. Also, a great and memorable place to visit full of links to ancient Greek history and pleasant time in 1963-4 and 1968.
Two views of the area near Troy one showing a hill that might be an acropolis for such a city and the other beaches near the same location. View of the Lion Gate at Mycenae where Agamemnon was welcomed back from Troy after ten years of struggle according to Homer and the Iliad - he was murdered soon after by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover.
