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Gallipoli 100 and Anzac Day

The nation will be commemorating the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign and Anzac Day at events in London and Turkey.

On Saturday 25 April, a service will take place at the Cenotaph on Whitehall to pay homage to those who fought and died during the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey 100 years ago.

The event, which will be attended by Her Majesty The Queen and Their Royal Highnesses The Duke of Edinburgh and The Duke of Cambridge, commemorates both the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign and the 99th anniversary of Anzac Day.

It comprises a Service of Commemoration and the laying of wreaths, followed by a march past of some 3,000 descendants, military personnel and members of the Gallipoli Association and other military associations.

It will be preceded by a service at St Paul’s Cathedral led by the Gallipoli Association, and will be followed by a service at Westminster Abbey, organised by the High Commissions of Australia and New Zealand to commemorate the 99th anniversary of Anzac Day.

The Gallipoli campaign

More than 550,000 Allied troops participated, fighting in the harsh terrain of the Turkish peninsula or in ships off the coast, including those from Britain, the Indian sub-continent, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France and Canada.

The campaign, which lasted from April 1915 to 9 January 1916, saw considerable losses for Britain and her allies, and for the Turkish.

The Helles Memorial

In Turkey, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in partnership with the British Embassy Ankara and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are holding a Commonwealth and Ireland Service at the CWGC Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, on 24 April.

The Prince of Wales, accompanied by Prince Harry, will attend the service with the Foreign Secretary representing the UK Government. The service will be hosted by Air Chief Marshal Sir Joe French KCB CBE, Vice Chairman of the CWGC and will be led by the Chaplain General to Her Majesty’s Land Forces, The Reverend Dr David Coulter QHC.

The Helles Memorial was built in 1924 and serves the dual function, as the Commonwealth battle memorial for the whole Gallipoli campaign and as a place of commemoration for many of those British and Commonwealth servicemen who died there and have no known grave.

The memorial bears more than 21,000 names and is one of 23,000 cemeteries and memorials located in 154 countries around the world that is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The event will be attended by around 600 guests including diplomatic and military representatives of nations that were involved in the Campaign and descendants of some of those who were involved in the Gallipoli Campaign one hundred years ago.

Information for the public planning to attend the London event on 25 April visit National events

 

Channel website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence

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