100th Anzac commemorations: Stretcher-bearer kept family photo close

The Herald is publishing a series of video diaries to mark the Gallipoli centenary. This week, we’re telling the stories of five New Zealand residents with strong ties to the bloody conflict.

When Private William Griffiths came under fire at Gallipoli, he was carrying a photo of his family with a handwritten note from his wife in his pocket.

When he died 10 days later - with a gunshot wound to his right thigh and his skull fractured by another bullet - that postcard was returned to his family.

He was a stretcher-bearer, something granddaughter Lyn Griffiths is immensely proud of.

She will be attending the centenary at Gallipoli with a friend and expects the visit to be an emotional experience.

"He would have been out there picking up the dead or wounded. He would have been unarmed," said Ms Griffiths.

Lyn Griffiths' grandfather Private William Griffiths.

"The fact that he was a stretcher-bearer didn't figure too highly in my esteem until I watched a documentary on television.

"They were not armed, they were sent into the middle of the fire to pick up the wounded and the dead and bring them back to safety. They were really brave men."

Ms Griffiths spent years gathering information on her grandfather and was shocked to find out he was signed up for the war by his father. "That blew me away. I always wondered why he had enlisted to go away, especially since he had such a young family."