Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"Private Jelly Laidler. COMMONPLACE VIEW OF WAR. 

Pte. "Jelly" Laidler, one of first Towersites to volunteer, one who was at the landing at Gaba Tepe and earned the name of "the man they couldn't hit" proves rather disappointing to talk to. Other returned soldiers had given great accounts of his exploits, but the real man didn't want to say anything that might lead the fellows in the firing line to say he was a "lying ----." He even suggested that some of those who counted the Turks they killed are not as truthful as they might be. His experience was that when you fired at a man you did not know whether you killed him or whether someone else did. He jabbed his bayonet into a sniper the night after the landing, but never saw a bayonet charge in which the two lines clashed, man to man, and thought that very rarely happened. 

He was in a charge once when D and C Companies of the 9th Battalion were sent out to draw fire and keep the Turks from sending reinforcements to Achi Baba and although they got so near to the enemy trenches that some of our men were taken prisoners he did not even see a Turk. That was at Tasmanian Post on June 28th and was a terrible affair. Of five hundred men he believed there were three hundred casualties, one hundred and eighty being killed. It was terrible to look over the parapet next morning and see your mates lying dead. He admitted he often felt squeamish and shaky under such circumstances. General Birdwood said he was proud of them for that charge and though they did not do much damage the warships did. The Queen Elizabeth got in one shot that killed a ton of Turks.

On another occasion in June the Turks charged our trenches at Gaba Tepe and we shot them down like dogs, but then they bombarded our trenches - and that was "murder." His company should have got off at 8 o'clock and did not till 11, because the men behind were having almost as bad a time as they were. There were times when you would sit in the trenches and do nothing and then a shell would come and get twenty or thirty of you.

At the landing the boys didn't know what they were coming at. They thought they were going straight through to Constantinople. They beat the Turks "dead easy" with the bayonet. There was no doubt the Turks did not like cold steel, but they were good fighters all the same. At first the Australians understood that the Turks would massacre prisoners and mutilate the wounded, but that was all rot." 

The Australians were "fed "the best in the world. Cheese, bacon, ¼lb. jam, as much bully beef as you wanted, an onion, a potato and biscuits a typical day's ration. Later on they had bread instead of biscuits and even fresh meat and one day there were eggs and an- other currants and flour. The worst trouble was to get firewood and a lot of tucker was thrown away for want of it. There was plenty of tobacco.

The spirit of our men was good as also was that of the Gurkhas and Tommies, in fact all the men on the Peninsula were good soidiers.

Recruits should remember that the officers were their bosses. It must be "Yes, sir" and don't' say a word, whatever you think of him as a man. The work in Egypt was hard. You had to drill and do your duty and once in the firing line you had to keep yoursfelf together. It was hard to see your mates shot, but you mustn't be a squib or a squealer. It was a great experience and they especially enjoyed the pyramids and all the other great scenes in Egypt. There was plenty of fun too such as teaching the Egyptain newsboys English and sending them around calling out "Good news to-day. Lord Roberts dead" and so on. He was looking to returning.

It appears by the way that the Turks really did hit him at last, inflicting a slight wound on the leg, but what brought him back to Aus- tralia was dysentery. Such is the fate of the modern hero." - from the Charters Towers Evening Telegraph 04 Apr 1916 (nla.gov.au)

"The funeral of the late John Emmerson "Jelly" Laidler took place yesterday afternoon and was largely attended. Nearly one hundred returned soldiers marched, four members of the R.S.S.I.L.A. acting also as pall-bearers. The coffin was conveyed on a gun carriage, being draped in a Union Jack and covered with wreaths. The Towers Concert Band preceded the cortege, playing the "Dead March in Saul." At the grave-side the burial service was conducted by Rev. Canon Saxon. Mr J. M. Clark sounded "The Last Post" on the bugle."- from the Charters Towers Northern Miner 22 Mar 1921 (nla.gov.au)