From the July 25, 2014 Yahoo! 7: The West Australian "The story of the Cheops pyramid picture" by Malcolm Quekett.
Just weeks before many of them died at Gallipoli, Diggers (what Australian soldiers in WWI were often called) of the 11th Battalion, 703 Australians, camped out in Egypt and receiving final training were ordered to a nearby landmark for a group picture. It was likely the last picture ever taken of some of them as many died at Gallipoli.
The 11th Battalion was raised primarily in the state of West Australia, Australia.
Captain Charles Barnes wrote: "After Church this morning, the whole Battalion was marched up to the Pyramid (Old Cheops) and we had a photo took or at least several of them."
The officers were in the front and the men on the steps of the pyramid.
Legend has it that one of the men in the photo was actually a dead body, dressed in uniform and propped up.
So far, 154 in the photo have been identified. They want Australian families to help with identification.
At Gallipoli, on the first day, April 25, 1915, the 11th Battalion was among the first Australian units to land and they lost 57 men of the 620 Australians killed that day.
A very interesting picture. Look it up.
--Cooter
No comments:
Post a Comment