It
might have been supposed that
Malone was a perfect candidate for a posthumous Victoria Cross - now that his
dissidence was silenced. He had, after all, held the always imperilled
outpost of Quinn's, and thus saved the Anzac beachhead; he had taken Chunuk
Bair. But the high command remained unforgiving. More mysteriously still,
Malone's name was to be ruthlessly blackened by his British superiors; he would
eventually be blamed for the failure of the August offensive.
"Voices of
Gallipoli", (Auckland 1988), Maurice Shadbolt, p. 118
This website has been prepared by
the first "hotel de charme" on the Gallipoli peninsula
I saw our
Colonel Malone
occasionally that day. He was moving about a fair
amount. He kept boosting our morale, and he always had a kind word, an
encouraging word. “It’ll easy off shortly,” he promised. “They’ll get tired
of this.” Little nothings. Then he suddenly went missing and we heard he had
been killed marking out a trench üline.
Vic Nicholson (Wellington Infantry Batallion) quoted in "Voices of Gallipoli",
(Auckland 1988), Maurice Shadbolt, p. 94
No one was more lucid about the experience than Colonel Malone of the Wellington Battalion, who was fast shaping as a maverick among New Zealand officers. Fifty-six
years old, a catholic, a puritan, a musician, a stickler for martial
virtue, Malone was a one-time Taranaki Farmer – a man who had sweated out
years breaking in bush country- who had since educated himself as a lawyer.
He prided himself on being a working man, a practical man, something he was
soon sure his superiors were not. He had begun refusing orders which would
lead to the destruction of his battalion.
"Voices of Gallipoli", (Auckland 1988), Maurice Shadbolt, p. 109-110
picture of William George Malone, reproduced from "Gallipoli", (Sydney 2002), Les Carlyon.
... veterans
of the Wellington battalion remember a member of the machine-gun section (*)
being sentenced to death for sleeping at his post. It happened in late July at
Quinn’s Post. ...
... The sentence was remitted on medical grounds as the man had not been
relieved from sentry duty at the proper time. He continued to serve on the
peninsula and was killed in the August battles.
"Gallipoli-The New
Zealand Story",
(Auckland 1998), Christopher Pugsley, p. 265
(*)
extracts from an official letter
(dated 4th October 1923) to Mrs M.A. McCandlish, mother of
Robert McCandlish
:
... It is with deep regret that I have to inform you of the receipt of advice
from the Imperial War Graves Commision that although representatives of the
commision have searched and researched the area in which the above named
soldier fell the grave has not been identified. ...
... By arrangement with the Imperial War Graves Commision The New Zealand
Government will erect memorials to the missing in selected cemeteries in the
various theatres of war, each memorial bearing the names of the missing in the
area represented by the memorial. The above soldier’s name will be inscribed
on the Missing memorial to be erected in Chunuk Bair Cemetery, 1 ½ miles from
the Landing Anzac, and I hope in due course to forward you a photograph.
"Gallipoli-The
New Zealand Story",
(Auckland 1998), Christopher Pugsley, p. 265
I expect to go
thro alright, but dear wife, if anything happens to me you must not grieve too
much – there are our dear children to be brought up – You know how I love and
have loved you ... I am prepared for death and I hope that God will have
forgiven me all my sins.
extract from an letter of William Malone to his wife, dated 5th August 1915,
quoted in "Gallipoli-The
New Zealand Story",
(Auckland 1998), Christopher Pugsley, p. 270
I lost my dearest friend,
Teddy Charles, that day. We joined up together and saw the campaign through together until Chunuk Bair. There were no officers left, no NCOs. Just soldiers. Teddy led thirty men forward to try and hold the ridge. He called, “Come on, Vic” but I was impeded by Turkish fire. We never saw those thirty men again. Later, in the dark, I thought I heard Teddy’s voice calling for his mother, then for me. But then the place was crawling with Turks and I couldn’t get to him. He’s still on Chunuk Bair, a pile of bones.
