Arthur John Turpie

He joined the 9th battalion on 21 August 1914 and served with them until his death exactly one year later on 21 August 1915 at Gallipoli. On 14 August 1915 he was appointed acting Corporal and this was probably due to the heavy losses on 9 August 1915. The 21st August wsaw the battalion’s second attempt to break out at Suvla Bay. The almost impossible task was given to the 29th and 11th Divisions. The battalion occupied trenches to the right of Chocolate Hill and the attack went in at 3pm. The logic was that the setting sun would blind the Turks but on this day a mist hung over the whole area. The battalion had seven officers and the CO was already carrying a wound from the 9th August. Half the battalion had been lost on the 9th and therefore some three hundred men took part. Ismail Oglu Tepe was a hill forming the south west corner of the Anafarta Sagar Spur and this was the 11th Division’s objective. The hill rose 350 feet from the plain and was covered in dense holly oak scrub which was almost impenetrable and broke up the attack, forcing men into single file along goat tracks between the bushes. It also caught fire easily and many men found themselves trapped in an inferno. It was here that Arthur was killed and he has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Helles memorial, Gallipoli.

Research by John Morse