Irishman, Lt. General Sir Bryan Mahon commanded the 10th (Irish) Division. Dublin's Phoenix Park still bears the scar of a training trench. Musketry was practised at Dollymount Strand. The 6th and 7th Dublins were stationed at the Curragh and later at The Royal (Collins) Barracks, Dublin. D Company of the 7th, had a Pals unit, containing a good social mix, including, Trinity Law Professor Ernest Julian, Trinity graduate, Bob Stanton, Rathmines-based rugby player and Commercial Traveller, William Boyd and Botanic Gardens Assistant Keeper, Charles Ball.

General Kitchener forbade a send-off parade from Dublin for fear of German spies but the 7th Dubs did march through the city to cheering crowds on departure to England for further training in late April. The Dublins set sail for Gallipoli on July 10th, as part of the new Mediterranean Expeditionary Force under General Sir Ian Hamilton.

They landed at Suvla Bay on August 7th without maps or orders. Also, the 10th (Irish) Division's artillery pieces were misdirected. Water was in such short supply, men nearly killed each other for a drink. Their ammunition ran out and on occasion they resorted to throwing stones at the Turks. Private Wilkins, a Pal, was in a trench catching grenades and throwing them back at the Turks. He caught five, the sixth blew him to pieces. 28 year old Lieut. Bob Stanton was killed when the Dublins led an assault on Scimitar Hill. Shelling set fire to the bush and many bodies were not found, including Bob's. The War Office telegram informed his family that Bob was, 'missing, believed killed in action', and they hoped in vain that he might have been captured. The American Embassy established that he was not in a Turkish POW camp. The Stantons suffered a further blow when Bob's brother, George (aged 27), a Captain and medical graduate, was mortally wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st, 1916.

Bob Stanton, Ernest Julian, William and Harry Boyd, are among the 480 Dublin Fusiliers lost at Gallipoli and named on the Helles Memorial. Of the quarter million soldiers killed, wounded or missing, 3411 were from the 10th (Irish), 569 of whom were Dublin Fusiliers. The Irish sacrifice received little or no official recognition.

Click here to download more about this