Gallipoli pilgrimage both exciting and moving

Brothers and veterans Roy and Ted Brock have seen ruins, toured battlefields, met the Prime Minister and attended a total of seven commemoration services in their time in Turkey for the Gallipoli commemorations. In their final diary, they reflect on Anzac Day as well as the overall experience.

TED:

I thought the dawn service was quite outstanding and a moving experience. As the sun came up, when you looked up from Anzac Cove at the Sphinx and the cliffs, you realise what a hard row they had to hoe. It must have been pretty daunting - and showed how hard it must have been for them. Australia had a good service, too, it wasn't too long. Yes, the New Zealand service was quite different to it, but in their own ways they reflected the different nations.

I also went to the one for the Turkish 7th Regiment. They are obviously very patriotic. It's in the way they all use their flags and the way they view Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [the Turkish general at the Gallipoli campaign who later became Turkey's first President].

They had tradition at their service, the soldiers of olden times with drums and cymbals and pipes, scimitars and big golden sheep or cattle horns with tassles - it was almost biblical to look at. It's easy to forget Turks fought too, and fought well, and they won. They are very militaristic but it's probably partly because they're at a crossroads between East and West and have a strategic waterway going right through the heart.

It's been strenuous - we've been on the go the whole time - but I feel humbled and elated to have taken part. And buggered.

ROY:

We had to get up at 2am so I went to bed quite early, I was in bed before 8pm, just took half a sleeping pill and off to sleep. The dawn service was the way they should be - not too wordy and with a bit of variety. The one I really enjoyed was the day before at the [Turkish international service] with all the bands and drilling. I've never seen anything like it except on television and always wanted to see it myself.

I particularly enjoyed the singing at the Australian one, and the fervour of the crowd. There were a lot more people at theirs than at ours, the atmosphere was electric. The NZ service was enjoyable - when John Key arrived he was almost mobbed by the young people, it was fantastic. It was sad in some respects, though, because we were told earlier that the Iroquois had crashed. So it was rather sad, particularly since we've had such a close relationship with the RNZAF over the last 10 days (the delegation is travelling by the Air Force Boeing). We had also been to look at the Squadron No3 hangar when we were in Ohakea on day one and they were very hospitable and good to us. We've been fantastically looked after for old soldiers, by the Turkish and our own military, although I don't call myself an old soldier. Sleep was a big problem - I don't normally have sleeping pills but the excitement tends to keep you awake. But we've survived.