Gallipoli visit 'unforgettable'

Monty Morrison talks about his experience visiting Gallipoli. Photo / Stephen Parker

Ngati Whakaue kaumatua Monty Morrison believes every New Zealander should visit Gallipoli to commemorate the lives of the soldiers who fought and died there.

Speaking following on from Anzac Day yesterday, Mr Morrison said he went on a tour of Gallipoli during a family trip to Turkey in 2007 - and describes the experience as "unforgettable".

"Gallipoli was different to how I imagined it would be ... When you first get there you are told that it is a sacred place ... I didn't expect it to be as sacred or to have the feelings I had.

"It's very quiet and serene. I had an uncle who fought in the war and he survived. His name was Tokoaitua Morrison, so we had this history and I have been to many of the dawn parades before and so I certainly got a sense of, this is the place where history was made."

He said two of his lasting memories from the place were the size and scale of the peninsula and the New Zealand monument. "It was massive, I couldn't believe it. I thought that when they had climbed to the top of the cliff they were there, but they still had 2km to get to Lone Pine, and that surprised me."

He said the tour guide asked where they were from and when they told him New Zealand he said they didn't get many visitors from New Zealand.

"He said they had a lot of Australians, but not so many Kiwis ... I think that every New Zealander needs to go and see Gallipoli."

Mr Morrison said another thing that stood out was that the trenches were unbelievably close to each other.

"The guide, a Turkish man, told us a story about his grandfather who fought in the war. He remembered his grandfather telling him about the Maori soldiers. He said when it got hot they had no problem taking their clothes off and just walking around, and for them as Muslims you didn't do that and so they had a problem because they couldn't fire at them because they couldn't look at them because they were naked, and all they were doing was trying to get themselves cool.

"He also told us a story about when one of the Turks got wounded and he was left out in front of the trenches.

"When there was a lull in the fighting one of the Maori soldiers stripped off, because he knew they would not shoot him if he did, and picked up the wounded guy and carried him back to their line. That was special, you sit there and soak that all up. You soon come away thinking about the stupidity of war. When you hear phrases like mothers losing their son, lost generations, they suddenly become pretty real."