Private Harold Crook (3187)

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Ever since i was a child there has been a picture of Harold, first on my Nana's walls and now on my own wall, Harold was my Nana's older brother.

Harold Crook.

No one in the family ever knew what actually became of Harold apart from he was shot in the head, probably by a sniper like many soldiers were in the trenches, hence the reason soldiers used to lift their helmets above the trenches on the end of a rifle or a pole to see if it was fired at as a sign of snipers around.

A few years back i went to the history library and the lady there was very helpful, eventually we found family records that none of even knew about.

But the main thing was i found out his name is on the Helles Memorial at the Gallipoli Peninsula. for soldiers whose bodies were never found.

battlefields1418.50megs.com/helles_memorial.htm

In the trenches there was nowhere to put the dead, so they were put on top just outside the edges of the trenches where they were sadly left, many became covered by earth as the battles went on around them, getting covered by soil from shell explosions.

There are thousands of men whose bodies are now part of the land around Gallipoli, never to be found and Harold being one of them.

His ambition was to become an antiques dealer after the war, sadly never realised.

I found the acknowledgement from the news paper at the Library.

A closeup that i cleaned up.

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We will remember Harold. :poppy:

Garry

[Hawker Hurricane]

Thank you for sharing Harold's story and his wonderful portrait with us, Total. The Gallipoli campaign was a horror that those who weren't there cannot begin to imagine.

We will remember him
with honour and gratitude

[bomber]

:poppy: We Will Remember Him :poppy:

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By the way Harold is coming with us to the Open Day well his piccie is

[Hawker Hurricane]

That is a wonderful portrait of Harold. I fitting memorial to a brave and selfless young man.

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Unfortunatly the piccie has printed out Darker than this, but it still looks GREAT

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Thanks.

This picture is an old copy done with a camera, I've never scanned it yet, I'll do it now if you'd like a better quality one that should print out much better.

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Quality wise Eddie, its printed out great, think I should have lightened it a bit, will try again later

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I've just replaced it with the copy i have just scanned and edited, i think it looks much nice.

Its brighter also

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Oct 24, 2010 8:53:51 GMT Hawker Hurricane said:

Thank you for sharing Harold's story and his wonderful portrait with us, Total. The Gallipoli campaign was a horror that those who weren't there cannot begin to imagine.

We will remember him
with honour and gratitude

I have the book "Gully Ravine, Gallipoli" and the DVD "Gallipoli 1915 The Bloody Peninsula"

The Gallipoli campaign certainly was a horrific and ill-fated campaign that ended in failure and waste of life on both sides.

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I believe Mr Churchill was the main advocate of the attacks against Turkey. Badly planned, not enough heavy artillery and no element of surprise.

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I have the DVD, will play it on one of our Laptops on Thursday

Thanks Eddie

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Correct Shred, it was Churchill,,,, they first tried to bombard the Peninsula with shells from the navy, but the strait was so well mined they lost ships, including mine sweepers.

So they changed plans to a land assalt, basically throwing as many men in as they could, and badly planned as you say.

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Posting this today got me surfing for sites about Gallipoli, and i thought this was a pretty good, although there are hundreds out there.

www.fylde.demon.co.uk/morangallip.htm

Just to quote part of the site that i read and brought a lump to my throat, because it sums up just how many men died there and were never found.

If you leave the road just about anywhere at Gallipoli, sooner or later you will find human remains. The forestry workers, in their cycle of planting pine seedlings then chopping them down when they grow, never seem to remove the bones, but instead sweep them into little bundles. Somewhere, even today, someone probably still mourns the life that these bones once meant.