In 2015 Dad and I were at the dawn ceremony at ANZAC Cove and then the service at Chunuk Bair.
I carried the medals of my great-grandfather Harry Crozier with me. It was 100 years since ANZAC troops set foot on the Gallipoli peninsula in that ill-fated campaign.
Going to Gallipoli had been on my bucket list forever… and, with Dad, I finally ticked that off, and on the centenary as well.
It was, and remains, a very special trip and memory.
I was incredibly proud to carry those medals back to Gallipoli where Harry Crozier was severely wounded and evacuated firstly to a hospital ship then to various hospitals. He refused to let them amputate the leg, and back then antibiotics were unheard of. At one stage they fused both his legs together to assist in healing, and then had to separate them later.
As part of his convalescence, he spent a great deal of time in a hospital in Rotorua. It was there he learned to carve, taught by a famous Maori carver. We have many of his carvings at Dad’s place and yesterday I saw many more at his son’s house.
I barely remember Harry, I was just four years old when he died, but I do remember him sitting in his lounge under a massive ticking clock.
As I said, I was proud to have his medals with me when I walked along ANZAC Cove with Dad, up the ridges and stood on Chunuk Bair. I took a lot of poppies and I left plenty there.
Lest we forget.
You can read Harry’s service record online.
Harry Crozier: 3 October 1889?6 February 1972
Service record
27 Nov 1914 Medical Examination
2 Dec 1914 Enlistment Questionnaire
13 Dec 1914 Joined NZ Expeditionary Force Training NZ Otago Infantry until 12 Feb 2015 (61 days)
13 Feb 1915 H & NZT 19 February until 26 Mar 1915 (42 days)
27 Feb 1915 Egypt
9 May 1915 Joined Unit, Cape Helles, Foot of peninsula at Gallipoli
7 Aug 1915 Dardanelles, way up peninsula at Gallipoli, Wounded, Left leg Compound fractures
13 Aug 1915 HS Itonus to Hospital Valleta on island of Malta
3 Nov 1915 HS Regina D, Italia to England
12 Nov 1915 3rd Southern General Hospital, London
5 May 1916 Grey Towers – New Zealand Convalescent Hospital, Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, England
24 May 1916 Admitted back to Hospital
29 Jun 1916 to Walton on Thames Hospital, London
12 July 1916 transferred to WW1 New Zealand First Hospital, Brockenhurst.
8 Aug 1916 back to Grey Towers – Hornchurch Road,Hornchurch, England
11 Aug 1916 Discharged from Hospital
12 Aug 1916 Invalided to NZ on SS Willochra
13 Feb 1917 Final Discharge on account of wounds received in action
Medals received
1914-15 Star
British War Medal 23 March 1922
Victory Medal 15 June 1922
Gallipoli Lapel badge & Gallipoli Medallion 27 July 1967
