224025 Pte. Thomas Smith British Army 9th Btn Worcestershire Regiment from:Worcester (d.20th April 1916) My grandfather, Thomas Smith enlisted in 9th Btn Worcestershire Regiment in 1914. In 1915 the battalion was sent to Gallipoli and fought with the British forces at Helles, in August 1915 with the ANZACS at the Battles of Sari Bair, Russell's Top, and Hill 60, and continued to see action until evacuated on 8th-9th January 1916. The battalion subsequently went to Mesopotamia - now Iraq. My grandfather fell there on the 20th April 1916. He left a wife and five children, he was 34 years old. My family remembers him at one of the many Dawn Parades held throughout New Zealand every ANZAC Day, 25th April. As usual, my poppy will be placed on the war memorial at Browns Bay in Auckland; it overlooks the sea and you can hear the waves - it's a good place, Grandfather Tom would like it. Ironically, Browns Bay beach is about the same size as the beach where the ANZACS landed on Gallipoli. Lest we forget.
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