Torquil MacLeod and Ronnie Faed...

I am sure that the two names mentioned here won't mean anything to you.  However, considering the circumstances in which they lost their lives, it is sad that the young Scottish lads - and many others - have become forgotten over the last one hundred years.

Last Saturday was 25th April, and some will be aware that the date was the centenary of the landings on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.  In what turned out to be one of the worst campaigns for Allied forces during WWI, it is now remembered largely for the horrendous losses.

The plan was to control the Dardanelles Strait, and capture Constantinople, capital of the then Ottoman Empire.  After the failure of a naval attack by the British and French, it was decided to launch a ground offensive, led by Anzac (Austrakia and New Zealand) forces, with support from the French and British.

In August 1914, 434 members of the young (aged between 14 and 16) Dartmouth cadets were mobilised, and linked up with the Royal Navy's reserve fleet.  Two of these cadets were Ronnie Faed (15), and 14-year-old Torquil Macleod.  They were to serve on H.M.S. Goliath.

The landings on the 25th April, 1915, were the start of a terrible nine months in the Region.  The Ottomans were well prepared to deal with the offensive, and from the beginning, things looked very grim for the Allies.

At 1.00am on the morning of 13th May, 1915, Goliath was struck by two torpedoes.  These were followed by a third, and Goliath capsized with the loss of 570 crew.  MacLeod and Faed were just two of those who perished.

When the Gallipoli Campaign ended in January 1916, the Allied casualties read like this :

56,707 dead

123,598 injured

7,654 missing or captured

The events of the campaign are remembered in the incredibly moving And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda by Eric Bogle.  Here it is performed by Liam Clancy.