ACCORDING to Tathra resident Allen Collins, Tathra Beach would have been the perfect place to stage a re-enactment of the storming of the beach at Gallipoli to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the event.
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He had even approached local schools and community groups to get involved.
“When I did all the costings and it came to $18,000, I realised I didn’t have a chance,” Mr Collins said.
“It would have been fabulous.
“It’s one of the disappointments in my life but, oh well.”
As senior vice-president of the Bega RSL sub-branch, Mr Collins has a strong interest in the commemoration.
“I have an uncle, George Goulburn Warren, who enlisted in 1915,” he said.
“He was a Gallipoli veteran who was evacuated out of there and went on to serve in Belgium.
“When he enlisted he was given a watch and a wallet.
“He said to his mate who was fighting alongside him, ‘I’m never going to see another sunrise, take these [the watch and wallet] for me’.
“After much arguing his mate took the watch and the wallet just to placate him.
“Not long after he was blown to smithereens, they couldn’t even find his dog tag,” he said.
Mr Collins’ uncle Jack was gassed, but managed to live a reasonable life.
“War is a terrible thing,” Mr Collins said.
“We moan about our loss at Gallipoli, but the Turks lost 70,000 men.
“We lost around eight or nine thousand men all up in Gallipoli, but in just one battle at Fromelles we lost over 5000 men and all up at Fromelles we lost 60,000 Australian men.
“At that time Australia had a very small population so it was a large proportion of the male population,” he said.
Mr Collins was a national serviceman.
“I was supposed to go and fight in the Korean War, but I was growing rice at the time and the authorities said that I was engaged in important work so I ended up not going, even though I was quite willing to go.
“My numbers came up twice.”
Mr Collins will be attending the local dawn service.
“We will be holding our normal services, except we will be making them a bit bigger and better,” he said.