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IT was a story of family survival that began in the bloodied trenches of Gallipoli 100 years ago.
And yesterday it had a touching and possibly final chapter at a suburban home in Sydney.
Portland’s Ian Burrett is a well known military historian and the proud son of Athol Frederick ‘Joe’ Burrett DSO MD who emerged from his military service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
But he almost never made it — and obviously neither did Ian.
The then 2nd Lieutenant Burrett and a Lieutenant Colin Harrison were under fire in ‘Goldenstet’s Trench’ at Lone Pine on August 8 1915 when heroism and fate merged.
Athol ‘Joe’ Burrett later wrote in his diary during the battle of Lone Pine: “Lieut Harrison saved my life when a bomb fell at our feet in the trench.
We were standing together and I did not notice the bomb when it landed.
He shouted ‘look out’ and pushed me out of the way. Doing so he got the full force of the explosion himself.”
Burrett received minor bomb fragments to both legs while Harrison died of his wounds on Lemnos on September 21, 1915.
It was an act of heroism that became part of Burrett family folklore.
Athol Burrett returned from the war, married his much younger sweetheart, and in due course Ian came along.
On Anzac Day this year Ian was at the centenary service at Gallipoli where he famously sounded the whistle his father had used to announce the attack in 1915.
His story was picked up by the national media and led to Ian being contacted by Jack Harrison, of Beecroft, the 83-year-old nephew of the man who saved Athol Burrett’s life all those years ago.
Yesterday at Beecroft there was meeting of two proud men.
Ian presented Colin with a plaque saying ‘thank you’ and bearing a stone that Ian had picked up on the beach at Anzac Cove.
It was a touching and memorable moment and an appropriate tribute as the centenary of Anzac rapidly nears its end.