For some reason I started to think about William Banks last night why?, well maybe just to keep his memory alive and for that reason I would like to share his brief life with you,so if you have a few minutes to spare, please give William and his comrades your time and watch the  the documentary film in the you tube video. William was born in 1905 and was the the Son of William and Jessie Banks, of 34A, Main St., Newhaven, Leith, Edinburgh Scotland. His family were loom builders and their work eventually brought William to Cork in Southern Ireland, where he was Building looms for the Sunbeam Factory,which was situated in the Blackpool area of the city.

Like alot of young men of his time, the outbreak of war must have seemed like a deliverance from their humdrum lives. The opportunity to go abroad and be involved in a grand adventure was the chance of a lifetime or so seemed in the 1914

William not one to miss a good fight joined The Royal Munster Fusiliers where he was attached to the Sixth Battalion.After training in the Curragh and then in Basingstoke in England,William and the Sixth Battalion left Liverpool on July the Ninth bound for Gallipoli.A month later on the seventh of August,the Tenth Irish Division landed at Suvla Bay,the first troops ashore were the Sixth Battalion comprising of twenty five officers and seven hundred and forty nine men .

Their objective was a ridge known as Sari Bair.Due to a combination of intense heat,bitter cold nights,brave defence by the Turks and downright bad leadership they were forced to retire back to the beaches after their initial attack.

But on the Fifteenth of August the Tenth Division made its final attack taking the northern slope. the Sixth Battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers lost forty three men that night, among them my great grand uncle Willie Banks,I don't know if a comrade held his hand that night as he lay dying or whether he was alone in a foxhole screaming and crying,but what I do know is that I wanted to tell his story. Why? because he haunts me, maybe it was his youth or just the innocence of William Banks and the other boys who left on ships all over the world to take part in the "great adventure".The Sixth Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers withdrew from Gallipoli on August The 30th with fewer than 450 men from an original compliment of 774 men.

While researching this hub I came across a video on you tube which is an incredible documentary film and is a magnificent tribute to all those who died at Gallipoli. Thank you for your time.