This article is about the Embarkation Pier Cemetery, ANZAC and is one of a number of articles I have written about Gallipoli. I have also written guides to help you research soldiers who served in the British Army during the First World War:

• Guides to Gallipoli
• Guides to Researching Soldiers who Served with the British Army

Embarkation Pier Cemetery Gallipoli

The Embarkation Pier Cemetery, Gallipoli takes its name from a short-lived pier which existed for only two days close to the site of the present cemetery. The cemetery can be found on the left as you drive past ANZAC Cove and is signposted. Just behind the Embarkation Pier Cemetery, hidden by the trees in the photograph above, is North Beach. The cemetery contains the graves of 944 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the Gallipoli campaign but sadly 662 are unidentified. There are 262 men either known to be buried in the cemetery or believed to be buried in the cemetery and commemorated by special memorials.

There was originally five burials on the site, but after Armistice graves from the surrounding area including the Chailak Dere No.1 and 2 Cemeteries, were reinterred here. The burials in the cemetery date from the 25 April 1915, the day of the landings, to the 11 December 1915. The burials are a mix of soldiers who were serving with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and the British Army.The grave above is a special memorial to Trooper George Richard Somerville Johnston who served with the 2nd Australian Light Horse. The memorial caught my eye due to the epitaph, which reads ”Never mind me boys save Serjeant Beaton”. Serjeant Beaton survived the war. You can read Johnston’s service file by clicking on this link: Trooper George Johnston. Johnston is recorded as having died of multiple shell wounds in a field ambulance in his service records and probably knew he was mortally wounded when he said the words used as his epitaph. Another unique epitaph found on the headstones at the Embarkation Pier Cemetery is to Trooper William Albert Baker of the 9th Australian Light Horse. The epitaph reads ”Brother Bill a sniping fell, We miss him still, we ever will”. You can read Baker’s service file by clicking on this link: Trooper William Baker. William Baker was a station hand from Baker’s Creek [?], South Australia and had enlisted on the 13 November 1914. Baker is recorded as having died from a ”bullet in head” in his service file, most likely from a Turkish sniper.