Mr Cammock carried on emailing excerpts from the diary to family and friends and now his great-uncle's story has spread to 35 people.
"It's given me a great insight and appreciation of the expeditionary force," he said. "My great-uncle wrote every single day and once on the battlefield he fought all day and then wrote at night. This is an important piece of our family history."
Private Cammock went ashore after midnight at Gallipoli on April 25 and continued to record events until he dropped the diary in the confusion, under fire on the battlefield.
"Unbelievably, in the chaos a soldier from an Irish regiment found the diary, took it home to Ireland and after the war found someone who was travelling to New Zealand by ship and the diary was returned to my grandfather, Carl Cammock, the next-eldest son in the family. It has been passed down to the oldest son ever since. It's so very personal and very much treasured. And for me the connection with my great-uncle is special as I was born at dawn on Anzac Day and despite a long line of Rolands in our family, I was also given that same middle name."
Private Cammock was on the Limerick, one of the first ships to leave Wellington Harbour on Friday, October 16, 1914. He describes in his diary the sight of two lines of ships, five of each, battleships and troopships, heading out to sea.
On Saturday, October 17, he wrote, "Last sight of land, Farewell Spit. Goodbye, dear old New Zealand."
Four days later the convoy arrived in Hobart and on Wednesday, October 28, the Limerick arrived in King George Sound off Albany, in Western Australia, where they were met by 28 Australian troop ships.
On November 1 Private Cammock wrote, "The whole fleet set sail at 6am. One of the greatest sights I have ever seen and one I will long remember." The fleet arrived in Colombo, where the harbour was full of ships, including war prizes. From Aden and then on through the Suez Canal, the convoy was using 2000 tonnes of coal a day. After arriving in Alexandra, it was drills, marches and digging trenches until they left again for Suez mid-January.
Last week the Royal New Zealand Navy's warship HMNZS Te Kaha sailed to Australia, before heading to Gallipoli as part of the 100-year celebrations of the Anzac landing, following the route Private Cammock's ship travelled 100 years ago.
On Sunday, April 25, Private Cammock wrote, "Left Lemnos early, 5.30am, arrived at Gallipoli at 12. Fierce bombardment which stopped at 7pm. Monday, April 26 stopped in hollow all day, but on Tuesday, 27, went into action about 9 o'clock and fought all day. Heavy casualties."
After landing on the beach at Gallipoli, Private Cammock and the rest of his regiment dug in and it was more than three months until the assault on Chunuk Bair when he was wounded. In that time, spring turned to summer and the heat and the flies were atrocious. Casualties were heavy and Private Cammock received a quick promotion to Lance Corporal. "He then went into battle at Chunuk Bair where he received a flesh wound," Mr Cammock explained.
"Normally this would have been survivable, but the wounded lay on the beach for some time waiting to be shipped to Lemnos Island and then to Malta, and infection set in."
Aged just 21 years and three months, Lance Corporal William Roland Cammock, 10/1060, of the Wellington Regiment, NZ Expeditionary Force died.
"He was so young," Mr Cammock said. "Our young men went off on what they believed was a great adventure and the numbers killed and wounded in the trenches was appalling."
And while his great-uncle's diary is something that links Mr Cammock to the battlefields and beaches of Gallipoli, he too wants to stand on the same beaches.
"I put my name forward for the ballot this year, but missed out," he said. "But I was hopeful I may have won a place in the subsequent second ballot. However, I've talked to the Gallipoli service people and I'm number 4000 on the waiting list, so my chance of getting there and standing on the beach on my birthday at the place where my great-uncle came ashore are nil."
