At Gallipoli, wounded officers opted for the ‘scenic route’ back to the beaches.
Dear reader, another piece from Geoff Boyes, and fittingly as our typesetter Bert Crooksedge, (former stretcher bearer Fifth Batallion AIF) celebrates his 123rd birthday, he recounts his vision of God on the shores of that fateful beach at Gallipoli. In Bert’s own words;
‘It was a bit dark and no sooner had we left the barges when I saw before me an image of God, all dressed in white walking amongst the scrub, pointing the way to Constantinople. Or maybe it was a goat? Couldn’t tell it was so dark”.
A cross country stretcher ride through salt bush was also popular amongst officers
Was it an aparition? We may never know. But as Bert has clearly out-lasted his Turkish foe to be the last ever Anzac still alive it’s fair to declare Gallipoli is now “WON” by the righteous force of Empire and KING!
God Save The KING!
Food for thought? Or the GODS? You decide .
The Poem is aptly namd the Laughing God. Take it away Geoff…..(and God),
Jumbo Jackson’ and ‘Crackers Cornford’ (2nd/1st M.G Cmp trailing the “donkey outfit’ Gallipoli Beach Carnival, April 1915.
The Laughing God.
What is it you see,
When you look upon me?
What destiny lay in your hands?
A puppet, am I?
A pawn or a spy?
Willing to heed your demands?
‘
Each time I take a step, it seems
Towards a goal,
Towards a dream
“Acting the Goat’ Regmental Donkey. A Donkey.
Or reach to find, a higher path
All I see is a stumbling block
Or else a wall of glass.
Is all life a test, all experience hard won?
A lesson, a wall,
Or just an illusion
Does our knowledge count for none?
Do you sit and watch us fall?
Laughing, while we wonder lost,
Amidst the confusion.
Cpl Bert Culthorpe filling sandbags outside the makeshift office of the batallion news sheet ‘Blood-n-Bone”, Gallipoli May 1915.
Is there a scheme, can you tell me?
A reason,
For this weary path I’ve trod?
Order from despair,
Could you really care?
Or would you leave us in ignorance…….
Laughing God.