World War 1, South-West Asia, Turkey, Gallipoli, 1310 NALEY, 16 Battalion, 1915

On 17 September 1914, GordonNaley enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Morphettville, South Australia and was to 16 Battalion. On 22 December, the Battalion boarded the HMAT Ceramic A40 for Alexandria, Egypt with stops at Albany, Aden and Port Said. The Battalion then trained at at Heliopolis until 11 April when they embarked forfor Gallipoli. On the afternoon of 25 April 1915, the first party from the 16th Battalion stepped ashore at Gallipoli to engage in aseries of actions at Popes Hill, and made their way inland to what would become known as Popes Hill, Bloody Angle and in the defence of Quinn’s Post. Late in May, Gordon contracted enteric fever and was evacuated from Gallipoli. It was reported in a number of Australian newspapers that he had died of his wounds. He spent several months in hospital in England and did not rejoin the Battalion until 19 August 1916, where they were involved in the Battle of Mouquet Farm l
. On 11 April 1917, the 16th Battalion unsuccessfully assaulted the Hindenburg line at Bullecourt in France. Gordon was captured along with approximately 1,170 Australian soldiers. He was wounded in action suffering shrapnel wounds to the left hip. Gordon spent the next twenty one months as a prisoner of war at Limburg and Zerbst in Germany, arriving back in England on 6 January 1919.
Two weeks later he married Cecilia Karsh, a baker’s assistant from Fulham. On 4 June 1919, Gordon and his wife departed from England and disembarked in Adelaide on 23 July 1919. The couple made their way to Boggy Flat a small settlement not far from Waikerie area On 27 July, Gordon was discharged from the AIF as Corporal Gordon Naley. Within a year the family was residing on a Soldier Settlement block at Winkie in the Berri. By late 1927, due to Gordon’s failing health, the Naley family had moved to the suburb of Brooklyn Park in Adelaide. Gordon Naley had been suffering from respiratory complications from his time in the war when he passed away at the veterans’ hospital in nearby Myrtle Bank on 28 August 1928. He was 41 years of age.