Lt. Col. Stanley Holm Watson

Stan Watson (R )
Supervising build of the pier.

On Anzac Day 2012 I tweeted the story of my Great Grandfather, Lt Col. Stanley Watson and his time at Gallipoli. Some people suggested I keep the story so here its is, as it was tweeted.  Keep in mind as a series of tweets, there is an element of abruptness in the writing.  One day perhaps, we'll write his story in full.  

Salute to the Turks today on #ANZACDay which should be called #Gallipoli Day. It was the beginning of democracy for Turkey and effected all.

The Bridging Train transport ship provided the timber for the pier. With no equipment the major issue was the driving of the piles. Upon the completion of Watson's Pier on June 18th, Lt. Col Foote said "Waterloo day! Let's have a dinner to celebrate".

First Waterloo Dinner Menu

First Waterloo Dinner Menu. Worth a read.

Stan put the Major through to each post in turn to give orders to withdraw troops. At 3am the final call was to the machine gunners. Stan was given the task to build the 1st pier at Gallipoli named "Watson's Pier". These were the most shelled piers in the hist of the war. 

The shell made safe, "The pier was under artillery fire and work proceeded..except when the Turks shelled the beach"

If I pause, I can still feel the touch of his tweed jacket and the comforting woody smell of his cigars through the rough wool. 

Salute also to the French at Villers Bretonneux. We rebuilt their school in 1918. They rebuilt ours in 2009. 

Here's a bit of a story of my Great Grandfather Lt Col. Stanley Watson who fought at Gallipoli, Amiens and returned home. He died in 1985.

The story is not that of the Gallipoli campaign. Feel free to look up those details. This is the story my G.Grandfather. Henceforth "Stan".Stan Watson was born in 1887 in Adelaide. 

In 1904 he was apprenticed to the S.A Railway workshops whilst he studied Engineering at night. In 1910 he enlisted as a 2nd Lieut in the 6th Field Troop of Engineers. 

When war broke out enlisted in the 1st Aust Div Signals Co as Lieut.Stan landed at ANZAC cove early in the am, 97 years ago today. He had the task of estab telephone systems and communications under fire.

What was needed in the chaos of the Gallipoli landing was to establish a pier for landing supplies and giving some order to the cove.A 9 inch Turkish piercing shell lay on the slope and he decided it could do the job. 

However it was still an armed shell.Gpa didn't speak of the war, but he did mention later to his contemporaries that de-lousing that shell was the scariest thing he did. 

His hands were sweating and slippery, his heart rate increased and he knew it could explode. In his words: "This I did with some fear".

I'm quoting from Gpa's unpublished memoir "Gallipoli, The Tragic Truth" of which I have a copy. There is also a copy with the @AWMemorialThe pier "comprised 19 bays to a depth of water 12-13 feet and was 210 feet long". It was finished on 18th June. 

Sapper Roach, an artist, produced a decorative menu and "The dinner was a great success- the food monotonous". The Waterloo Dinner was born.

The Royal Australian Corps of Engineers Annual Dinner is called the Waterloo Dinner to this day. Grandpa never missed one. (hic!)

The pier underwent tremendous shelling but played a significant role in the difficulties of the Gallipoli campaign.

These days we're getting beyond the blame game regarding the botched Gallipoli landing but in Gpas writings it's raw and new.

He greatly respected Gen Monash, Lt Gen Birdwood and Sir Ian Hamilton, but blamed Admiral de Robeck who was commanding the British fleet.

Robeck was"one who refused to commit his battleships to the task..He weighed his ships against the sacrifice of one hundred thousand lives.""..and the battleships won. 

His failure to take decisive action on march 21/22 was contrary to orders and the plan of the campaign"Robeck knew the plans but had no intention of carrying them through. Kitchener said at the time"The Navy is afraid of getting its feet wet"

The orders for the evac. of Gallipoli was done by phone. Major Wisdom was at the pier, Stan at the wireless station on the beach. 

Stan waited 30 minutes for another call to come through but none came. He tried calling but the line was dead so he evacuated himself. 

Arriving back at the Pier, the beach telephone had gone. No call was going to come through so his decision to leave was a wise one. 

Captain Littler was the last person to leave Gallipoli. Stan did the final check of the beach then he and Littler boarded the lighter. Littler wrote: "Capt SH Watson was the last officer I sent on board at North Beach on the evacuation of Anzac". 

Gallipoli was over.For his services Stan was awarded the order of the "White Eagle of Serbia". 

He served the rest of the war with the 2nd Aust Div. For his work at the Battle of the Somme he was awarded the Military Cross; for managing communications at Amiens, the Service Cross. 

But those stories are for another day. For me he was my Gpa and I knew him as a gentle old man with a sadness in his eyes at mention of WWII . I was very lucky to know him for the first 18 years of my life. He was very lucky to live to the age he did.  His official biography is here.