Anzac Cove, Ari Burnu, from John Masefield's 'Gallipoli.'
View of Anzac, looking towards Suvla.
"'Poor Simpson of 3rd F.A. was killed early in morning while still doing good work with the donkey.' The imperturbable manner in which this man, born in South Shields, County Durham, but enlisting in a West Australian unit, had brought wounded men down to the beach with the aid of his donkey was already growing into a legend which in due honour to Simpson was to symbolize the brave work done by men of all the field ambulance units."
Australian John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a stretcher bearer with the ANZAC Third Field Ambulance unit, landed on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, the first day of the Allied invasion. In the three and a half weeks before his death on May 19, he used four donkeys to help him transport the wounded to the relative safety of the shore and transfer to a hospital ship. Legend credits him and his donkeys with bearing 300 wounded from the battle lines. The first sentence of the quotation is by Edney Moore of the Australian Medical Corps.
Men of Gallipoli: The Dardanelles and Gallipoli Experience August 1914 to January 1916 by Peter Liddle, pp. 155, 156, copyright © Peter Liddle, 1976, publisher: David and Charles, publication date: 1976
1915-05-19, 1915, May, Anzac Cove, Simpson, Simpson's Donkey
