John Simpson Kirkpatrick
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John (Jack) Simpson Kirkpatrick (July 6, 1892–May 19, 1915) was a stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign, in World War I. After landing at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915, he obtained a donkey and began carrying wounded British Empire soldiers from the frontline to the beach, for evacuation. He continued this work for three and a half weeks, often under fire, until he was killed. Simpson and his Donkey are a key part of the "Anzac legend".
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[edit] Early years
Kirkpatrick is probably one of the best known soldiers of the First Australian Imperial Force. However, like many members of the AIF, he had been born in the UK; at South Shields, County Durham, England to a Scottish couple, who had moved to England in 1886.[1]
In common with many of his peers, Kirkpatrick did not attend high school, instead working as a milkboy. He was briefly a member of the Territorial Army (the British Army reserve corps), when he joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 17, working as a stoker and steward.
On May 13, 1910 he "jumped ship" — that is, broke his employment contract — at Newcastle, New South Wales. He travelled, often on foot, to Queensland, where he worked as a sugar cane cutter and station worker. He worked a passage from Cairns to Sydney, and became a coal miner in the Illawarra region.
During 1911, Kirkpatrick went to Western Australia for a short period, and worked there on the Yilgarn Goldfield.
For a few years, he worked as a steward, fireman and greaser on ships travelling between the Australian ports. An only son, he always sent money to his mother and sister in South Shields. Kirkpatrick was also a trade union activist and a socialist, writing to his family of his hopes for a political revolution in the UK.
[edit] Gallipoli
On August 25, 1914, in Perth, Western Australia, he joined the AIF and the Australian Army Medical Corps, under the name of "John Simpson", as a stretcher bearer. He was given the service number of 202 and underwent basic training at Blackboy Hill Camp. He was assigned to C Squadron, 3rd Field Ambulance. In the Army, his Geordie accent was mistaken for an Irish accent and he was nicknamed "Murphy".
Kirkpatrick believed that the AIF would be sent to Western Europe, to fight German Empire forces, and his main motivation in joining up was the prospect of a free passage to England. However, the AIF stopped en route, in Egypt, for training in preparation for the invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Turkey.
The 3rd Field Ambulance travelled to Gallipoli with the Australian 3rd Brigade aboard RMT Devanha and transferred to Royal Navy destroyer HMS Ribble for the landing. The 3rd Brigade was the first ANZAC unit ashore. Kirkpatrick was the only member of his bearer section of four to reach the beach unscathed.
Kirkpatrick found a donkey, which he named variously "Duffy", "Murphy" and "Abdul", that had been landed by a field artillery units, and began operating independently. Accounts vary as to whether he had received official approval for this practice at the time.
Leading this donkey, he began his journeys from the beach, up "Shrapnel Gully" and "Monash Valley". On his way up he would carry water, on the way back wounded, particularly those with leg wounds. At night he camped with an Indian Army field ambulance unit, near the beach.
There was literally nowhere at Gallipoli that was safe from fire and Monash Valley was particularly bad, as Ottoman forces held the heights at the end of the valley and could fire down its length. On the morning of May 19, the day after a major attack had been repulsed, Kirkpatrick began his usual routine. He was returning down Monash Valley with two wounded men, when they was came under machine gun fire near "Steele's Post". The three men were killed, Kirkpatrick being hit in the heart.
Kirkpatrick is buried in Beach Cemetery at Anzac Cove.
He was Mentioned in Despatches for "gallant and distinguished service in the field".
[edit] The Simpson legend
The "Simpson" legend grew largely from an account of his actions published in a 1916 book, Glorious Deeds of Australasians in the Great War. This was a wartime propaganda effort, and many of its stories of Simpson, supposedly rescuing 300 men and making dashes into no mans land to carry wounded out on his back, are demonstrably untrue. In fact, transporting that many men down to the beach in the four weeks that he was at Gallipoli would have been a physical impossibility, given the time the journey took.[2]) However, the stories presented in the book were widely and uncritically accepted by many people, including the authors of some subsequent books on Simpson.
The few contemporary accounts of Simpson at Gallipoli, speak of his bravery and invaluable service in bringing wounded down from the heights above Anzac Cove through Shrapnel and Monash Gullies. However, his donkey service spared him the even more dangerous and arduous work of hauling seriously wounded men back from the front lines on a stretcher.
There have been several petitions over the decades to have Simpson awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) or an Australian Victoria Cross.[3] There is a persistent myth that he was recommended for a VC, but that this was either refused or mishandled by the military bureaucracy. However, there is no documentary evidence that such a recommendation was ever made.[citation needed]The case for Simpson for him being awarded a VC is based on diary entries by his Commanding Officer that express the hope he would receive either a Distinguished Conduct Medal or VC. However, the officer in question never made a formal recommendation for either of these medals. Simpson’s Mention in Despatches was consistent with the recognition given to other men who performed the same role at Gallipoli.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-heroes/simpson.htm
- ^ Wilson, Graham, The Donkey Vote. A VC for Simpson – The Case Against, Sabretache: The Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, vol. 47, no. 4, December 2006, pp. 25-37
- ^ AAP (May 19, 2008). Anzac legend Simpson to miss out on VC. The West Australian. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
[edit] References
- Adam-Smith, Patsy (1978). The ANZACs. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-7343-0461-7.
- E.C. Buley, Glorious Deeds of Australasians in the Great War, Andrew Melrose, London, 1916
- Curran, Tom, Across The Bar: The Story Of ’Simpson’, The Man With The Donkey: Australia and Tyneside’s great military hero: Ogmios Publications, Yeronga, 1994
- Cochrane, Peter, Simpson And The Donkey: The Making Of A Legend, Melbourne University Press, Burwood, 1992.
- Wilson, Graham, The Donkey Vote. A VC for Simpson – The Case Against, Sabretache: The Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, vol. 47, no. 4, December 2006, pp. 25-37.
- Mark Greenwood (2008). Simpon and His Donkey. Walker Books Australia. ISBN 978-1-9211-5018-0.[1]
[edit] External links
- Australian War Memorial page on Simpson (and see also AWM biographical data and Roll of Honour data)
- Digger History page on Simpson with many images and information on New Zealander Richard Henderson, and his donkey.
