Gallipoli: a homecoming

Homecoming
Oil on Canvas
51 x 76 cm

There has been a lot of talk about the Gallipoli campaign this year which is not surprising I suppose, since April 2015 is the 100 year anniversary.

When I began this painting I had not intended for it to be anything to do with war but the First World War took it over. I was unaware that I had been influenced by the general chatter about Gallipoli until it appeared in my work. It showed me just how influenced we are by our environment, even when we don't particularly take notice of it.

So I dedicate this painting to my grandfather Philip who fought with NZ troops against the Germans in WWI. He died of his war wounds sixteen years after the war ended and featured in my childhood as the father my mother spoke of who had died when she was fourteen.

The young man in the picture, a German citizen, is grandfather Philip's namesake and direct descendant.

NZ WWI  troops including grandfather Philip (top right)

My ANZAC Grandfather

Today I found a box of old photos, among them a picture of my grandfather (the man with a cross above his head) with his ANZAC mates, taken sometime during or just before the First World War. I never met him as he died of his war wounds 16 years after the war ended and long before I was born.

Some New Zealand ANZACs.

Wikipedia about the ANZACS:
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was formed in Egypt in 1915 and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli. General William Birdwood commanded the corps, which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial Force and 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force. ... The soldiers of the corps showed great courage and endurance but had been landed on the wrong beach and were too ill-equipped to overcome the obstacles that confronted them. ... The Anzac front at Gallipoli remained a stalemate for much of the campaign. The one outstanding success of the campaign was the evacuation, starting in December, where the entire force was withdrawn before any Turkish reaction. However, Birdwood was the only corps commander opposed to abandoning Gallipoli

So here they are, New Zealand ANZACs. Grandfather was a farmer and I imagine most of the men in this picture were too. I wonder how many of this group made it back home to New Zealand. Probably very few.