Anzac's lost handkerchief forges Turkish ties

It sounds like the plot of a classic Hollywood war movie: a soldier finds the handkerchief of a slain enemy and uses it to wipe the blood off the face of his dying best friend, later giving the handkerchief to his friend's widow after the war.

For Invercargill woman Darylin Uren-Perry, however, the story is fact - and the handkerchief belonged to her great-great-uncle George Uren, who was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. 

Ms Uren-Perry says she was stunned and excited to find out the handkerchief had been rediscovered recently.

"You hear these stories from Gallipoli that happened to people but they never happen to you - but it has," Ms Uren-Perry told Newshub.

Turkish historian Omer Arslan recently found the handkerchief in the village of Hacıpehlivan, held as a treasured family heirloom by a soldier's family for the past 102 years. 

Turkish journalist Omer Arslan with the Gallipoli handkerchief and the grandson of Yusuf Oz, Nazmi Oz. (Omer Arslan)
Turkish journalist Omer Arslan with the Gallipoli handkerchief and the grandson of Yusuf Oz, Nazmi Oz. (Omer Arslan)

"Not only was this George's handkerchief but it had been our great, great grandmother that had embroidered [it]," Ms Uren-Perry says.

"Possibly given the time in history, she may have sewn the handkerchief herself, which makes it very special for us."

There is an inscription on the blood-stained handkerchief that reads: "To George from Mother on his 28th Birthday, April 2nd 1915, George Uren."

George Uren's incredible Gallipoli story

When war broke out in August 1914 George Uren was keen to do his bit for King and Country. He left his home town of Clyde to join the Otago Infantry Battalion in Dunedin, embarking with them two months later on a sea voyage that eventually led to Egypt.

There, at the original Anzac training camp outside Cairo, Mr Uren received a package from his mother just in time for his 28th birthday on April 2, 1915 - the handkerchief, specially embroidered with his name.

Kiwi soldier George Uren's handkerchief with his mother's birthday message. (Omer Arslan)
Kiwi soldier George Uren's handkerchief with his mother's birthday message. (Omer Arslan)

Mr Uren took the handkerchief with him to Gallipoli when he landed on the afternoon of April 25.

The 800 soldiers from Otago and Southland were initially spared most of the brutal fighting as Anzac soldiers battled with Ottoman Empire troops to secure the vital high ground on the Gallipoli peninsula.

But on May 2, exactly a month after his 28th birthday, Mr Uren's luck ran out.

The Otago Battalion were selected to capture the important hill top of Baby 700, which looked down on the Anzac positions. However, a night advance and rough terrain meant the Otago soldiers were late in beginning their attack, and the opposing Turkish soldiers knew full well they were coming.

Of the 800 soldiers from Otago and Southland who faced the hail of machine gun and rifle fire that terrible night, over half were wounded or killed - Mr Uren among them.

A Turkish soldier finds George's handkerchief

Three weeks after the slaughter a truce was arranged to bury the bodies of the dead, and a Turkish soldier found George Uren's handkerchief.

The soldier, Murat Ali, kept the handkerchief with him as a souvenir until the bloody August offensive, when Anzac troops attempted to break out of their hemmed in position and finally take the peninsula.

On August 8, Mr Ali and his best friend Yusuf Oz found themselves trying to recapture the important ridge of Chunuk Bair, which had been taken by New Zealand soldiers that morning.

A depiction of the Battle for Chunuk Bair by Kiwi artist Ion Brown.
A depiction of the Battle for Chunuk Bair by Kiwi artist Ion Brown.

With both sides firing at each other from just metres away, casualties were heavy, and Mr Oz was shot in the chest and head.

Turkish historian Omer Arslan was told by the Oz family that Mr Ali pulled out the handkerchief and tried to stop the bleeding, but Mr Oz died then and there.

Murat Ali survived the war and made a pilgrimage to Yusuf Oz's widow, gifting her the handkerchief as a memory of her husband.

It has remained in her family for more than a century, but it was only recently that the descendants of its original owner in New Zealand became aware of its existence.

Darylin Uren-Perry told Newshub: "I remember right back as a child my mother saying we had a family member who had been killed at Gallipoli.

"After we found out about the handkerchief the penny sort of dropped. We feel like we've got new family now in Turkey."

Ms Uren-Perry is now planning to visit Turkey and Gallipoli, and hopefully meet the family that has had her great-great-uncle's handkerchief for all these years.

"I've never been to Gallipoli, it's always been one of those must-dos, but this has just made it even more important now."

George Uren remembered at Lone Pine

George Uren's body was never recovered  from the slopes of Baby 700 - it remains there in an unmarked mass grave.

However, his name is on the New Zealand memorial to the missing at Lone Pine near where he died, along with the names of 752 other Kiwis who were killed in the area.

Ms Uren-Perry says a family member has visited the memorial but didn't realise the name G Uren was a relation.

"My niece has actually seen his name on the Lone Pine memorial, but at the time she didn't realise it was her great-great-great-uncle. She had seen G Uren and said 'oh, that's my great-grandfather's name', not knowing that there was a link further [back]."

It turns out Ms Uren-Perry's grandfather was also called George, in honour of his fallen uncle.

Newshub.