PADRES: from The Story of The Anzacs

It would be difficult to overrate the heroism of the clergy serving with the British and Australian Forces. Besides the tremendous moral and spiritual support which they gave to the troops, they frequently acted as stretcher-bearers, and brought the wounded out of danger under heavy fire. Captain Bean relates how a chaplain at Suvla Bay rescued numbers of our wounded from imminent death by Turkish gun fire and bush fire, and went off next morning into the danger zone after a British soldier whose cries he had heard while he was waiting to read a burial service.

Great grief at Anzac followed the death of the Rev. A. Gillison, a minister from the Presbyterian Church, St. Kilda, Melbourne, who was in the thick of the Landing, and subsequently shared all the perils of the men, showing himself a true "sport" as well as a particularly fine character. Captain Gillison, after escaping death repeatedly, was hit three times while endeavouring to rescue a wounded soldier. He was sent into a hospital ship, and thence to Mudros, where he died in hospital, with the praise of Australia upon his lips.

Equally heroic was Father Flynn, Chaplain of the Dublin Fusiliers, who was hit four times in the chest while in one of the boats engaged in the terrible landing at "V" Beach. He had been warned not to go ashore while the firing was so fierce, but insisted on being with his men. When he was taken from the boat, in great agony, he still attempted to administer the last rites to those around him, crawling among the wounded and giving them comfort. An hour after he arrived on land, he was struck by another bullet on the head, and killed.

Only a few of the Chaplains with the Australian Forces can be mentioned here. Chaplain Walter Dexter, 5th Battalion, who was amongst the first Australian chaplains to sail with our troops, had won the D.C.M. in the South African War, and gained the D.S.O. on Gallipoli. He was present at the Landing and the Evacuation, and throughout the whole course of operations gave his services unstintingly to officers and men. He was honoured by all who knew him.

Chaplain McKenzie, of the Salvation Army, did wonderful work amongst the troops both in Egypt and at Anzac. He was an earnest, fearless, simple-minded Christian, and possessed a rare sense of fun and humour.

Major-Chaplain Grant, Presbyterian Chaplain, New Zealand Forces, was a man devoted to his work, and who had no fear when duty called him. He had a warm heart and a strong personality, and his advice was often sought and as readily given. He was killed when attending to a wounded man.