Anzac Day marked on last surviving Gallipoli ship

BBC
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Anzac commemorations on Gallipoli ship
Anzac Day is held on 25 April every year [PA Media]

Members of the Royal Navy, alongside the navies of Australia and New Zealand have marked Anzac Day on board the last remaining ship of the Gallipoli campaign.

The service took place on HMS M.33, which is in dry dock next to HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Anzac Day is held on the 25 April every year.

Troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - shortened to Anzac - landed on the western shore of the Gallipoli peninsula on that day in 1915.

During the service, a wreath was laid on board the ship - which supported the landings at Gallipoli in 1915.

Members of the Royal New Zealand Navy replace their caps
Members of the Royal New Zealand Navy attended the ceremony [PA Media]

Eileen Clegg, from the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) which helped organise the service, said: "Anzac Day is the most important day of commemoration in New Zealand and Australia, and HMS M.33 serves as an excellent symbol of the sacrifice made in Gallipoli and beyond."

"This event allows anyone, serving or not, to honour this sacrifice from those who lived and served thousands of miles away," she said.

The campaign, which lasted eight months, pitted British, French, Indian, New Zealand, Australian and Canadian forces against the Ottoman Empire.

Hundreds of thousands of troops were killed and wounded and it remains one of the most famous battles of World War One.

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