Gallipoli

• Jared Godwin, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2017

Gallipoli
As our boat hit the blood engulfed beach and the ramp fell down, the front line of soldiers fell like dominoes. We ran as fast as we could trying to dodge the bullets our enemy pelted at us. All I could see was my fellow mates lying beside me suffering from the embedded bullet wounds that they had received. As I saw more and more men fall, I started to regret lying about my age to join the army. I bet mother is still mad at me now for my choice and nor would she want me coming home in a body bag. I have left her feeling inconsolable and heartbroken.
We fought and fought and we managed to take over the beachfront. Most of the men who were still alive came down the hill, to assess the wounded. Many of the men who surrendered, were gruesomely executed by two shots to the head. As we executed a Turkish soldier, my mind went elsewhere and I wondered how sad and devastated the families of these soldiers would be.
Our Admiral said that the only good Turkish soldier is a dead one. The men who didn’t surrender to us were still hiding in the machine gun bunker. We burnt the Turkish soldiers out and whoever emerged from the bunker was on fire. We remorsefully left their bodies to burn. At noon, reinforcements were sent in to help us hold our ground and to gain more. That night, I could not sleep as the gruesome smell of the left over dead troops lying on the beach with blood covered bodies swept through the trees where I was camped. Home had never felt further away.