Two young Gallipoli descendants are among the first Victorians in decades to touch the helmet that once protected our greatest military mind.
Mitchell Hutchinson, 15, and Ekrem Eren, 16, ( son of John H. Eren MLA ) were invited to the Shrine of Remembrance, where Sir John Monash’s tin hat will go on public display for the first time before Anzac Day. They held in their hands, just as the great commander Monash held in his hands the lives of their great-grandfathers–and many others–from 1915 to 1918. Ninety years ago the fore fathers of the two Aussie teens were enemies on the Turkish battle field where Monash was a colonel under that helmet.
Mitchell’s great-grandfather, William Paul McKenzie, was a Digger in Monash’s 14th Battalion, while Ekrem’s great-grandfather, Hamdi Isteni, was a Turkish officer. (under the command of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk..)