GRAVES OF ANZAC.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 103, 2 May 1916, Page 3

GRAVES OF ANZAC.

NOT LIKELY TO BE HARMED. MELBOURNE, April 11. Lieut.-Col. Crouch, avlio commanded the 22nu Battal'ion of the Australian Expeditionary Force, thinks that the Turks can be trusted not to desecrate the graves of Australians who have fallen at Gallipoli. "There is a great deal of anxiety among the relatives of our brave dead soldiers," he said, "lest their graves at Anzac should b e desecrated. I do not think that this need be feared. The Turks, up to the present, have proved to be honourable foes. I would expect little from Germans, but MaMahametans as these Turks are, I have little doubt that they will! respect the crosses which mark the graves of so many of our honoured dead. There are several little cemeteries at Anzac, and t-hse are well kept and tended by our men. The 6th Brigade had its own burial place, and the chaplains were instructed to keep a record of all internments, with the number of each lot. Every grave in my own battalion was marked with a. little white cross made by the pioneers. Each also bore tlie name of the fallien soldier buried beneath. There was another cemetery near the sea whr th graves received car.eful attention. I found also that at Mudros Colonel Burston, formerly Lord Mayor of Melbourne, had erected a stone wall round the dead, and another large cemetery was under the shadow of the On?ek Church at Portiana. On arriving there I found thatMajor Comins, an old comrade of the Yarra Borderers, had died. I soon got the number of his grave, and had a cross erected. The record there of the sleeping dead was most complete. Surveys were also taken of the grave of Lieut.-Col. Onslow Thompson, of Sydney,, with the view of some day placing a permanent memorial in the site. "In spite of their German associations. J repeat that I believe we can trust the Turks. I feel confident that the representations made by the American Ambassador at Constantinople on the subject of preserving the Anzac graves will be successful. We must form some day an association for the protection of our soldiers' graves, such as exists in South Africa. "*