Pte Allan McDowall

[Captain Dave]

Occassionaly I get asked through my mother to research family military records for people she works with. I recieved a request last week and dutifully sent off the request to Personal Records and recieved it this morning.

The soldier in question was a member of D Coy, the Otago Regiment and killed at Gallipoli during the assault on Dead Mans Ridge, his records state 'missing believed killed' between the 01 May and 23 May 1915.

Because the assault was not successful, the dead stayed in no mans land until 23 May when an armistice to bury the dead was arranged. Due to the scale of the dead, the Turks and NZ's arranged a halfway mark that was not to be crossed and anybody not accounted for, was probably in the Turkish half of the battlefield. Accordingly a court of inquiry was held and Pte McDowall was officialy listed as killed sometime between 01 and 23 May 1915.

Looking through the official Gallipoli History, it states that the assualt was delayed until the 2nd of May and was launched at 7pm. It is most likely that Pte McDowall perished on the assault, his body being left in an unmarked grave in the Turkish half of the battlefield.

I was taken aback by the realisation that he was probably killed 90 years ago today.

I was also surprised by the header of Sjt Francis John Craig of the same Regiment on the same day.

For the record, Allan McDowall age 23 enlisted in NZ on the 21st of December, 1914. He arrived in Egypt on the 27th of March 1915, and was probably involved in the landing on Gallipoli. In less than a month he was killed in action.

Christine Liava'a has posted a description of the Otago's final assault of the day on 90th Aniversary.

Tommorow I will bundle up his records and post them to his family. I will also include photocopies of the pages of the official history and include a print out of Christines description.

[Robert Dunlop]

Thanks Dave

May he, and all the others killed in action, whichever side they were on, rest in peace.

Robert