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4th September 1915 (incl. 5-11th Sept)


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Click arrow to read typed transcript

From some of our 14th that

were in the advance on the left

I hear Capt Groom our Cy Cmdr

is killed. Also Chas Wells

& many of the originals

leaving only a few in

the old Batallion.

The saddest news of

all is Chapln Gillison

Our padre is killed.

Without any exception

he was the whisest &

finest man of the Aust

on the peninsula. He

was working with the

Red Cross after the charge

bandaging our wounded

& giving them cigarettes

from his own cigarette

case, all the time under

gun & rifle fire. He was

just that kind of man who

would go through anything

to save our chaps from

unnecessary suffering.


He should have never been

in the danger zone at all.

Yet he sacrificed his life

in this way with many

others just as willing perh-

aps, but not with opportun-

ities. He was always busy

up at our old position

Courtneys post his stalking

about (under the eye of the

ever ready Turkish sniper

to fire on the Red Cross).

holding burial

services on the slope of

the hill or supervising

the bringing down of

the wounded from the

trenches. This was no

easy task owing to the

great drop from the

firing line to the

dressing station.

In fact where-ever he

was needed he was

always there. The last sermon

I heard him preach was to

the whole brigade in Rest

Valley. His remarks

were on the language

used by the Aust troops.

A very impressive sermon

it was too. Not a single

man there closed his ears

to it. I watched the whole

thing from our

dug-out on the other side

of the gully to the troops

the same side as the

padre & you’d be

surprised to see how

every man was interested.

He also dwelt on “A mans

Conscience” ) A photo was

taken, probably by one of

the local papers.

Many a strong minded

man was drawn to tears

on hearing of the Death

of Chapln Gillison.


Things are going along

slowly. A lecture was

given on places about

Egypt, accompanied by

lantern slides.

The usual pictures were

run this evening

attracting everybody in Al Hayat







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Members of the 4th Brigade attending a church service in Reserve Gully,

being conducted by Chaplain A Gillison of the 14th Battalion






For more information about Australia in World War I





Diary of an ANZAC soldier. A WWI diary found in 2022. One man's story, told 108 years later.

Lest we forget.




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