DISEASES in the trenches |
![Picture](/uploads/5/1/9/5/51956055/2374811_orig.jpg)
Sickness and disease was one of the greatest problems on Gallipoli for the troops of all nations. On Anzac men had only to turn their gaze from the Turkish trenches towards the sea where they would have seen the endless traffic of small boats and barges out to the hospital ships offshore.
Only twice during the whole campaign did the proportion of men being evacuated from Anzac with wounds – during May and the two weeks of the August offensive – exceed the proportion being taken off with some form of illness. In some ways this was the main personal experience of serving on Gallipoli, rather than the more dramatic but short-lived periods of battle. The youngest Australian to die on Gallipoli – Private James Martin, aged 14 – did so from illness not wounds.
The image on this panel shows two stretcher-bearers. Undoubtedly, the most famous medic on Anzac was the ‘man with the donkey’, Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick, 3rd Field Ambulance. However, it was decided not to feature Simpson, whose story is so well known, but rather that unsung legion of other bearers whose work right throughout the campaign undoubtedly saved many lives.
Only twice during the whole campaign did the proportion of men being evacuated from Anzac with wounds – during May and the two weeks of the August offensive – exceed the proportion being taken off with some form of illness. In some ways this was the main personal experience of serving on Gallipoli, rather than the more dramatic but short-lived periods of battle. The youngest Australian to die on Gallipoli – Private James Martin, aged 14 – did so from illness not wounds.
The image on this panel shows two stretcher-bearers. Undoubtedly, the most famous medic on Anzac was the ‘man with the donkey’, Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick, 3rd Field Ambulance. However, it was decided not to feature Simpson, whose story is so well known, but rather that unsung legion of other bearers whose work right throughout the campaign undoubtedly saved many lives.