LONE PINE is one of the most evocative titles to enter the national consciousness as a legacy of Word War One.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now a Portland man is off on a sentimental journey to Gallipoli to honour the memory of his father on the centenary of that bloody battle of Lone Pine.
Ian Burretts's father, 568 Lieutenant Colonel Athol Fredrick Burrett DSO MID, was 51 when Ian was born in 1946.
Athol was working at the Commercial Banking Co of Sydney in Lithgow and served with the 51st Battalion (Lithgow Rifles) prior to enlisting for World War 1 on 21 August 1915.
Lone Pine was part of the major allied offensive during the eight month Gallipoli campaign which took place between 6-10 August 1915.
Lone Pine was unique as only Australians from 1st to the 4th Battalions took part.
Athol, then a Second Lieutenant, was a timekeeper and one of the officers who blew a whistle to commence the Lone Pine charge at 5.30pm on August 6.
That time was chosen as the sun would have been in Turkish eyes.
Athol was John Patrick Hamilton's 3rd Battalion platoon commander and in the same trench, when Hamilton (also from Lithgow) won his Victoria Cross.
Athol was also wounded in the same trench.
Lieutenant Harrison pushed Athol aside when a bomb landed at their feet.
Harrison died shortly afterward and Athol received bomb fragments to both legs.
Of the 883 men of the 3rd Battalion who entered that battle 600 were killed or wounded.
Lone Pine was the most gruesome, bloody, fierce hand-to-hand fighting of the whole war.
Athol, then a 20 year old Sergeant, also received a bullet wound to his upper left arm on27 April 1915.
He was promoted to Major on 2 December 1916 aged 22 years and five months making him, most likely, to be the youngest ever Australian to have risen through the ranks to become a Major.
The whistle that Athol blew at the commencement of the Lone Pine charge is now the property of the Australian War Memorial.
Ian would have loved to have had his whistle to take on his trip to Lone Pine but the Australian War Memorial said no. Ian, however, was invited to the AWM where the Director, Dr Brendan Nelson, took Ian to a recording studio where he was able to blow the whistle.
Ian has purchased a similar whistle from the U.K and plans to blow it at the same time of day and same location as that deadly prelude 100 years ago.
