19th May 1915

[michaeldr]

A Very Gallant Gentleman

Andy Davidson provided the following account of the events of May 19th; in his address to the Soldier’s Institute, Perth; and in his letter to Major Treloar in 1938 (AWM PR 83/69, 10 of 17 and AWM 93, 417/20/35)

“The night before the May 19th stunt, [simpson] came to our section’s dugout and wanted a new pair of boots, as his old ones were worn through. He made a lot of fun about other things he needed; and that was the last time he spoke to me. During the attack the next day, some of our section was going up and passed Simpson on the way down with a casualty. Morris Mahoney and Teddy Langoulant stopped and spoke to him – [simpson] asked Mahoney how he was getting on. He always spoke with a definite brogue when speaking to Mahoney, an Australian Irishman, and on this occasion added a ribald remark – and as they resumed their journey somebody called after them that Simpson had been killed – forty yards further up the gulley he was shot, a machine-gun bullet got him at his job.”

[signaller D. M. Benson, 1 Aust. Div. Sig. Coy., had called out a warning to Jack of the machine-gunner, who was sweeping that part of the gulley (AWM PR 83/69, 10 of 17). Benson also saw ‘the donkey, at first driven away by the firing, kept coming back to the body.’]

“They rushed back and found him. A bullet had entered his back and passed out of the front of the stomach, having penetrated a vital organ. We laid him down carefully – and put his body in a dugout by the side of the track, and carried on with our job – There was great gloom on Anzac that night when it became known that Simpson had died. We finished our duty at 7 pm, and all that was left of our section gathered around our old pal and carried him down to Hell Spit, where we buried him. A clergyman officiated.” [in his letter to Jack’s sister Annie, Capt. H. Kenneth Fry, 3rd Fld. Amb., wrote that the service was read by ‘Chaplain-Colonel Green of our division.’]

Also from ‘Across the Bar’ by Tom Curran

“A simple wooden cross marked his grave, on which was written only his name:

Jack Simpson

After the Armistice, Jack was given a headstone in the Beach cemetery, which remains to this day, bearing the inscription:

John Simpson

Kirkpatrick served as

202 Private

J. Simpson

Aust. Army Medical Corps

19 May 1915 Aged 22

He gave his life

that others may live

Capt. Victor Conrick concluded his account of ‘Simpson’ in the unit history thus:

‘We buried Simpson in the cemetery on Brighton Beach, close to Hellfire Corner, a spot he had passed hundreds of times in his brave journeyings. Most of us had known him for four short months only, but long enough to assess his worth, surely a “very gallant gentleman.”’

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20 May 1915

HQ NZ & A Division

I desire to bring under your special notice, for favour of transmission to the proper authority, the case of Private Simpson, stated to belong to C Section of the 3rd Field Ambulance. This man has been working in this valley since 26th April, in collecting the wounded, and carrying them to the dressing stations. He had a small donkey which used to carry all cases unable to walk.

Private Simpson and his little beast earned the admiration of everyone at the upper end of the valley. They worked all day and night throughout the whole period since the landing, and help rendered to the wounded was invaluable. Simpson knew no fear, and moved unconcernedly amid shrapnel and rifle-fire, steadily carrying out his self-imposed task day by day, and he frequently earned the applause of the personnel for his many fearless rescues of wounded men from areas subject to rifle- and shrapnel-fire.

Simpson and his donkey were yesterday killed by shrapnel shell, and enquiry then elicited that he belonged to none of the A.M.C. units with this brigade, but had become separated from his own unit, and had carried on his perilous work on his own initiative.

John Monash

Col.

C.O. 4th A.I. Brigade

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[christine liava'a]

At about midnight of 18-19 May a thunderous fusillade, mainly machine gun and rifle fire came from the Turkish trenches opposite (Russell's Top and Walker's Ridge). Immediuately everyone (of the Auckland Mounted Rifles) was called to stand to arms and the reserve men rushed into the front trenches and saps. This was the first taste of action for many of them.

They waited throughout the fusillade for about 3 hours until 3.30 am when the Turkish fire slackened almost to occasional sniping and then lapsed into an ominous silence. The New Zealanders knew this to be a sign of impending attack.

Suddenly, with cries of "Allah, Allah, Allah!" thousands of Turks charged out of the dark across the Nek and over the short distance between the two lines of trenches, firing their rifles and throwing bombs as they attacked. The mounted men held their fire until the leading Turks were only 20 yards distant before he order for "Rapid Fire" was given. The troopers sprang to the parapets and poured a lethal fire into the attacking ranks. They had no hand thrown bombs, only rifles and machine guns.

As the front Turks fell, others replaced them, diving to the ground to evade the deadly fire...

The greatest defence was fought by the 4th Waikatos. Lt Roberts... put Lt Cornelius James and his Whakatane troop into the newly dug front line, knowing that this position would probably bear the greatest burden under attack.

During the battle the Whakatane troop, told by Roberts to "hold for 20 minutes at all costs" was virtually isolated due to a small gap between their right flank and and the old line making reinforcement and communication difficult. Lt James realised from the start of the battle that their trench was totally unsuitable to defend- the trench was too narrow, too deep, had no fire step and men could not pass each ther in it. He ordered his men to leave the trench and lie in front of it in an exposed position, from where they poured a deadly fire at point blank range. Turks fell around the isolated pocket of Whakatane troopers, some only ten feet away. Within a few minutes Lt James was killed

(along with Hewett Barnard Brown, of Whakatane KIA at Russell's Top 19 May 1915- Remembered Today)

Bloody Gallipoli- Richard Stowers