An Anzac in the Family

Description

Many families in New Zealand have an Anzac who served in WW1. Private Leslie McAlpine could have been any one of thousands of young men who left family and friends to serve his country. He was a fit, healthy young man when he left New Zealand and never completely lost hope that he would get back home. His story illustrates how decisions made in the wider world can affect our lives and opportunities. Using stories passed down by Leslie's brothers and sisters, An ANZAC in the FAMILY shows the pride, the worry and the painful loss felt by them and Leslie's parents. An ANZAC in the FAMILY follows the lives and eventual fate of Leslie and the other 2,234 men in the 4th Reinforcements - a group that don't feature in many of the accounts of the First World War. The Main Body are well known because they were involved in the landing at Gallipoli on April 25. Later Reinforcements went straight to Europe and fought on the Western Front. Their men wrote journals, published newsletters and took more photos that have survived. But the 4th Reinforcements have a proud tradition. Members fought at Gallipoli, Egypt, Salonika and the Western Front. They did it all. Based on two years of research, An ANZAC in the FAMILY includes a complete listing of all 2,235 men: name, rank, where they came from and, if they were killed, where they are buried.

Sherryl Abrahart is a New Zealander who now lives in the UK. She has been a technical author since the 1970s but always wanted to be a `real writer'. Private Leslie McAlpine is her uncle. Her father would sometimes tell her the story of his beloved eldest brother, who teased him and shouted him lollies. He would describe the day he was sent home from school to look after his mother because the telegram had arrived saying that Leslie had been killed in action. At family gatherings Sherryl remembers the brothers and sisters talking about Leslie. They wondered what happened and where his medals were. They found Anzac Day very painful. When the Commonwealth War Graves Commission released their records online, Sherryl and her cousins were able to find Leslie's grave - in France, not in Gallipoli as they expected. For the next few years, Sherryl slowly pieced the story together, researching all the 4ths' military files and discovering how young her uncle was, and the experiences he had survived, including Gallipoli and the sinking of the Marquette.