This article is about the Nek 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

The Nek Cemetery, ANZAC

The Nek Cemetery, ANZAC contains the graves of 326 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the Gallipoli Campaign. Of these 326 burials, only 10 are identified. The Nek Cemetery, ANZAC was created after the war by concentrating graves which had been found in the local area. The Nek was the scene of a series of disastrous charges by the Australian Light Horse on 7 August 1915 during the Battle of the Nek. Many of the 316 unidentified bodies buried in the cemetery belonged to men of the 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiments who lost their lives during the battle. The series of charges made by the Light Horse that day are depicted in the final scenes of Peter Weir’s film Gallipoli.During the Gallipoli Campaign, the area between the two walls would have been no man’s land. The white wall which can be seen to the right of the photograph is Sergeant Mehmet’s Tomb. On the 25 April 1915, the day of the landings, Sergeant Mehmet made a last stand with his soldiers against the ANZAC forces. The Ross Bastian marker can be seen between two pine trees in the centre of the photograph.Believed to be buried in The Nek Cemetery, ANZAC is Herbert Edward Stanley who was serving with the 8th Australian Light Horse when he was killed in action on 7 August 1915. Stanley’s occupation was a labourer when he enlisted on 9 November 1914. Stanley’s service record contains the following letter written to his mother from the Base Records Office on 12 June 1922:

Forwarded herewith is an identity disc of your son, the late No. 857 Private H. E. Stanley, 8th Light Horse Regiment, which was found outside Nek Cemetery, ANZAC, separate from any remains with which it might have been connection.

As your son’s remains were presumably interred in that vicinity his name will appear, with others, on a collective memorial, which will no doubt be erected in the above named Cemetery.

You can read Stanely’s service record here: Herbert Edward Stanley.

The view below is looking towards to Suvla Bay from The Nek Cemetery, ANZAC. The pool of water which can be seen in the middle of the photograph below is the Salt Lake.