Mullingar soldier’s WWI letter told of ‘terrible experiences’ at The Dardanelles
The Westmeath Examiner of September 25, 1915 carried this letter, written by Private Michael Creevy, who had been wounded at The Dardanelles, in Turkey, and who was at the time of writing in England recovering from war injuries. Mr Creevy’s letter was to his father, John Creevy, of Patrick Street, Mullingar:
“I got wounded on the 27th August in a bayonet charge. I was shot in the neck and also in the back. The bullet went right through my neck. I am going on well, and am in the best of health. The doctor and the priest told me that I had had a very narrow escape. This is a terrible place.
“The Turks have the advantage as they occupy the best positions. If we had the same advantages as the Turks in the way of positions, we could conquer the world.
“There is only a small level of 30 yards between each hill. Some of the hills are some seven hundred feet high and resemble Knockion, Crookedwood. When we make a charge, the Turks are always ready with the machine-guns, which play on top of us. In every charge we make we lose about two thousand.
“It is very difficult getting up the hills, and, as I have said, the Turks, being over us, have the advantage all the time. However, we are always able to capture the hill, for when we get within fifty yards of the Turks, they run away from the bayonets; but we manage to get at them, and we give them the bayonet in right good style.
“The fighting here has cost us a great deal in men. We lost nearly all our own officers killed and wounded. However, we captured a great many Turks and German officers. We have them hemmed in, and they can’t get away or get any ammunition, so that it will not be long until they must give in.
“There seems to be millions of them in it. When we make a charge one sees thousands of them lying dead and wounded along with our own on the field. One is in danger of tripping over the dead bodies and one doesn’t know when his turn may come. But we get used to all that, and I can say, without praising myself, that I was as cool as ever I was at home. I passed no remarks on fellows falling, each side and in front of me. I knew I might be the next to go under.
“I was with the priest the morning before we made the charge. France or Belgium were never at any time like the Dardanelles, and there were not as many men lost in those countries as were lost here for the past couple of months.
“Some fellows who were with us, and who had fought in France, say the fighting there was only a picnic compared to this. You have only to look at the papers to understand this.
“The papers, however, do not give you half the news of what is happening in the Dardanelles. I know all about it, and any man who comes out of it wounded is very lucky. I don’t know how long we will be in this hospital, but, when we leave it, we will leave it for a convalescent home, and afterwards get a few days’ leave for home, after which we will be sent out again.
“All the hospitals were full up – Cairo, Alexandria, the Base, and Gibraltar. Only for this we would never see England. Five boat-loads came with us to England. There were about four thousand wounded, making nine thousand inside a fortnight. That will give you an idea as to the fighting that has been going on, and the numbers left dead on the field.
“Often when we captured the Turkish trenches, we would be standing on heaps of dead bodies, the smell of which was awful.
“The maggots actually crept on our legs.
“We had to stick it until we were relieved. We might have been there for two or three days before we could be relieved.
“It took us three weeks to get from the Dardanelles to England, and it only takes a few hours to get from France to England. We were lucky not to have been torpedoed.”
The report finished by stating that “the writer concludes his letter by expressing the hope that all at home are well, and asks that he be sent some tobacco as he wouldn’t smoke cigarettes”.
On November 13 of that same year, the Examiner carried a third party account of the incident in which Private Creevy had been shot.
An heroic act
Under the heading ‘An heroic act’, it stated:
“In the course of a letter from a soldier engaged in the Dardanelles operations, a high tribute is paid to the work of the Irish regiments in the Gallipoli peninsula. The writer tells an interesting story, the hero of which is a Mullingar man, Private Michael Creevy. He states that last August, the Fifth Batt Connaught Rangers were in a communication trench when the Turkish guns began to play on them. Major Mooney, who was in command, gave the order to charge, but owing to the terrible fire it was almost impossible to move forward.
“During a lull in the firing, Private Creevy jumped up on the parapet, and shouting to the men to follow, ran towards the Turkish position. The Rangers captured two trenches.
“Not content with this important gain, Creevy again shouted to his comrades to follow with the object of capturing the third trench. They obeyed his orders, but just then Creevy received a bullet wound in the neck rendering him hors de combat.
“So pleased was Major Mooney with Creevy’s daring and heroic act that he took down his name and number and promised to have his name mentioned for gallant conduct. Unfortunately, the Major subsequently received wounds from which he died.
“Those in Mullingar who know Creevy will readily understand that he was just the man to do such an heroic act, and the hope is expressed that it will be recognised in due course.”
Private Creevy survived the war and returned to Mullingar, dying eventually from natural causes on October 21 1925, at the age of 55.