Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Enlistment and Training

Harold Turnbull was born in 1895 in Surry Hills, Sydney to his mother Clara Turnbull and an Un-named father. Not much is known about his early life, but it is known that he lived on 27 Regent Street in Redfern and worked as labourer prior to enlisting at age 20 at the Drill Hall in Perth, WA on the sixteenth of February, 1915.

Upon Enlistment he was assigned to Sixteenth Battalion, First Australian Imperial Force and embarked on the SS Argyllshire for Egypt on the nineteenth of April, 1915.
Harold arrived at Zietoun Camp, Egypt on the fourteenth of May and it was evacuated to the 1st General Hospital in Heliopolis with Pneumonia one week later.

Gallipolli Service

After his recovery Harold was then Embarked on the HMT Cawdor Castle to Lemnos and from there embarked on the SS El Kahira to Gapa-Tepe on the Gallipoli Peninsula and landed at Anzac Cove on the 1st of August, 1915 with the seventh Reinforcements. His recount of his time at Gallipoli is recorded in his diary and is as follows:
“6th August, Informed by our Officers in Shrapnel Gully that we were to make [a] big advance at 9pm, moved off at 9pm to the left with rifles free of ammunition. Met with little opposition till 5am then we were I the midst of hell with sniping very bad. We loaded our rifles with ammunition just before daylight and were partly dug in on hill 303 at 4pm.”

“August 8th, had few hours sleep by with the 15th (Battalion) relieving us at about 11am”

“August 9th, We made a heavy attack on Chocolate Hill at 3:30am, the 13th, 14th and 15th battalions on the right & we made a feint attack on the left and got cut up badly. I was one of six sent out to middle of hayfield to draw enemy fire, our only cover being a few stacks of hay, there was only four of us left to re-join the main body, but 60 of us got cut off and returned into the Turks machine gun fire. Thirty of our chaps were cut down, we were forced back to the foot of Hill 303 with less than half the brigade we started with.”
“August 10th, 20 of us were detailed on a connecting file with the Gurkas from 11pm to 7pm the following day and enjoyed some hot tea, dry biscuits and bully beef. Our Lieuts Hammonly and Hutton were both wounded on the 8th”

Harold later details the water from the wells as being “half mud” and unsurprisingly Harold himself came down with Dysentery and was placed on a hospital ship and evacuated to Malta on the 25th of August, less than a month after landing and had made his way back to London by mid-September.

Service in Europe

On the 30th of December Harold boarded the SS Olympic (One of the sister ships of the Infamous Titanic and the only Olympic class ship to survive The Great War) and re-joined A Company, 16th Battalion at the Tel El Kebir camp in January of 1916. After further training 16th Battalion boarded the SS Canada on the 1st of June, heading to Marseilles then to Bailleul and finally reaching Pozieres in the Somme region of France where the Battalion’s first VC would be won.
The 16th battalion would face some of it’s bloodiest fighting in France owing to the nature of trench warfare, in the official unit diary of the 16th Battallion is is accounted that “owing to Trench 78…The trench as a trench had ceased to exist owing to heavy artillery fire.
On the 29th of August, in an attack on Mouqet Farm with A company, Harold Turnbull received a G.S.W (gunshot wound) to his right forearm from enemy fire.
Harold was evacuated from the Western Front and sent back to England then back to Australia on the 13th of February 1917 and Harold Turnbull was discharged as Medically unfit on the 17th of May, 1917.

Harold Turnbull lived the rest of his life with a view of the ocean at Clovelly in Sydney, NSW.
He passed away on the 23rd of April in 1981 and was laid to rest at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park.
His epitaph on his plaque simply reads:
“Sadly missed” - Ann

All gave some, some gave all,
Lest We Forget

Trio: 1914/15 star, British War and Victory Medal to 1893 PTE. H. TURNBULL 16/BN AIF.

EMB: 19th April 1915

Admitted Pneumonia Gallipoli

WIA: 2nd July 1916 G.S.W. Rt Arm

RTA: 13th February 1917 (Medically unfit)

When applying for the Gallipoli Medallion Private Turnbull included this from his diary, he had this to say

“landed about 11:30 at ANZAC Cove with the 7th reinforcements …. 6th Informed by our officers in Shrapnel Gully that we were to make big advance at 9pm, moved off at 9pm to the left with all the rifles free of ammunition , met with little opposition till 5am then we were in the midst of hell, with sniping very bad. We loaded our rifles just before daylight and were partly dug in on hill 303 at 4pm….. We made a heavy attack on Chocolate Hill at 3:30am on the 9th, the 13th, 14th & 15th battalions on the right of me made just a faint attack on the left and got cut up badly. I was one of 6 sent out to middle of hay field to draw enemy’s fire, our only cover being stacks of hay, there was only four of us left to join the main body, but 60 of us got cut off and returned into the Turks machine gun fire. Thirty of our chaps were cut down”

Note: It appears he lost his medals but all were returned. The Victory Medal was handed in separately and then returned by the government in 1936

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