Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The 1914-15 Star awarded to Private L. Hawkins, 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, who was mortally wounded during the Anzac Landing at Gabe Tepe, 25 April 1915

1914-15 Star (789 Pte L. Hawkins. 7/Bn. A.I.F.) nearly extremely fine £200-£300

Leonard Hawkins was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the son of Mr and Mrs W. Hawkins of “The Bothy”, Home Farm, Swinfen Hall, Lichfield. He initially enlisted in the North Staffordshire Regiment, prior to transferring to the 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force. The latter served with the 2nd Australian Brigade as part of the second wave to land behind the 3rd Brigade for the ANZAC Landing at Gaba Tepe, 25 April 1915.

The 3rd Australian Brigade landed thus:
‘Just before 3am on 25th April, along with Queen and Prince of Wales, London steamed slowly towards the Peninsula, followed by 12 ‘tows’ of small boats. The faint breeze died away, and the surface of the sea became as smooth as glass. At 3.30am the battleships stealthily came to a stop, and the ‘tows’ crept past them towards the invisible shore, now about two and a half miles away. The phosphorescence glistened from the bows of the boats... “The green water’s turned to black”, one Australian has related; “You only knew your comrades were with you in the same boat by the press of their swinging bodies against your shoulders and your ribs.”

The throb of the engines of the pinnaces seemed loud enough to alert every Turk on the Peninsula, whose forbidding outline was occasionally visible. The first faint streaks of dawn were touching the sky when the ‘tows’ were cast off some 50 yards from the shore and the 48 little boats crept towards it. The men had been sitting cramped and silent for nearly three hours, and the strain was intense; it seemed impossible that they could not have been seen. It came almost as a relief when a flare shot up from a low headland, a silhouetted figure on the skyline shouted a warning, and a scattered fire broke out. Every boat landed where it could, the bullets striking sparks off the shingle, and the men splashed ashore.’ (Gallipoli by Robert Rhodes James refers).

Hawkins was wounded during the 2nd Australian Brigade’s attempt to land:
‘The Galeka, under Captain Bernard Burt, a Captain Kettle type, arrived punctually. There being no sign of the tows which should have been awaiting him after having landed the 3rd Brigade, Captain Burt took his ship 600 yards further in and anchored 1,500 yards from the shore. The Gaba Tepe guns began to burst their shrapnel about the ship. Commander Somerville, the naval officer on board, decided that the 6th and 7th Battalions should land themselves by the ship’s boats. Lieut.-Col. Elliott in accordance with the plan, ordered Major A. Jackson with Capt. H. T. C. Layh and three platoons of B Company to land about a mile north of the 3rd Brigade. As they neared the land they saw immediately north of Ari Bumu Knoll the Red Cross flag of the 3rd Field Ambulance. The original orders being to guard the left flank from Fisherman’s Hut up to 971, they rowed towards the Hut, under severe rifle and machine gun fire. Casualties were severe. The boats were filled with dead and wounded. The survivors landed and occupied a trench on the knoll behind Fisherman’s Hut. Of our officers and men only 38 reached the shore. Lieut. A. R. Heighway was wounded. Major Jackson went toward the 3rd Field Ambulance to arrange for evacuation of the wounded. A trawler came in and towed two of the boats away, but before all could be moved a Turkish attack developed between Walker’s Ridge and the sea, and Layh was forced to withdraw his men along the beach. Many heroic attempts were made to rescue the remaining wounded.’ (The 7th Bn AIF by A. Dean & E. W. Gutteridge refers).

Hawkins died of his wounds, 27 April 1915, and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.

Sold with copied research, including a photographic image of recipient in uniform.