Lost Anzacs: the story of two brothers. Greg Kerr. 1997.

Greg Kerr. A Melbourne journalist, has long been intrigued by the grandfather he never knew, a survivor of Gallipoli, and a powerful figure in his childhood. Then in 1995 his grandfather’s diaries became available - tantalisingly in shorthand, and singed by fire. In Lost Anzacs he goes in search of the enigmatic soldier-grandfather and unravels a remarkable episode in his family’s past. He traces the paths of two orphans from a broken home who enlisted in World War I in different battalions, using different surnames. The result is a graphic account of two profoundly different experiences of war, as seen through the eyes of two brothers.

Hedley Kitchin, the author’s great-uncle, took part in the Gallipoli landing and disappeared on the morning of 25:April 1915. His diary accounts of the preceding months evoke the excitement and occasional apprehension during the preparations for that disastrous campaign. George Kitchin Kerr, the author’s grandfather, landed after his brother, was subsequently wounded, and survived execution by the Turks in remarkable circumstances. Greg Kerr draws on George’s compelling diary to describe the long journey across Turkey and his three and a half years in Turkish prison camps. Few of those captured by the Turks at Gallipoli survived; George Kitchin Kerr managed to do so because of his innate determination and resourcefulness. Coping with privation and despair, he battled to survive at the hands of his adversaries and tried to discover the truth about his younger brother’s fate. Just as Hedley had documented the prelude to Gallipoli, George kept an extensive diary and took a series of unique photographs, many of which are included in this book.