[The writing below was extracted from Cahit Önder's book entitled

"Yaşayan Çanakkaleli Muharipler" - 1981

(Yazır Matbaacılık Koll. Şti.)]

[The writing below was seperately translated]

I was born in 1895 and I am currently 86 years of age. I served in Gallipoli. I also went to the Russian Region during the War of Independence. For 2 1/2 years, I was sitauted in Gallipoli.

Within the 27th Regiment I served with the 2nd Batallion's 4th battery.We had 10/5 Austrian cannons. We attacked the enemy with cannons from Ucmakdere and Kiretch Tepe. Our Commanders were Major Halit Bey *, Harun of Edirne and Halit of Uskudar. Ataturk was located on our left in Chunuk Bair. They say he was a man of courage.

While the enemy attacked, it would never silence its military band. Some soldiers that were in Gallipoli were transferred to Arabia. I was transferred to the Russian Region.

We were in combat with the Russians in Erzurum. Sarikamis, Arpacayi, Gumru, and Gence were the places

we redeemed from the Russians. The Russians got disorganized. We went to Batumi.

At sea, the Russians and British had there ships. We walked along the shore to Samsun during the winter.

 The Greeks rebelled in those areas a lot. They took everything that belongedto local Turkish civilians. We faught them that winter. That Spring, Ataturk arrived on May 19th.
 

I saw Ataturk arrive in Samsun. There was no docking point. The boat could not dock. A nearby mosque had a rowboat, for him to come to shore and he did. From there we went to Sivas. They chose us and sent us to Ankara. At that time Greeks evacuated Izmir. We were situated in Ankara between 5-10 days. There, they split us apart. I was in artillery and they called out:

"All artillerymen step forward"

There were only 5 of us. They gave us 12's from Eskisehir. I am a sergeant and the others were soldiers.

 They gave us to the 41st Regiment. We went to the Taurus Mountains to oppose theFrench in which we spent 7 months there. We spent that entire winter fighting.One morning a plane hovered over us with a huge white flag on it ; there was peace

 between the two sides (French and Turks).

We then went to Pozanti and from Pozanti we went on a train to Balmahmut station in Afyon. We then walked at night ; it was March and there was snow on the ground. Adjacent to the village of Dumlupinar, we situated ourselves in a tent in the village of Sogutlu. We placed our backpacks there. The war was continuing with the Greeks.

In Dumlupinar, the enemy was too much. After mid-day we retreated to a plain located near Sinanpasa Village. The Greek planes were bombarding the surface. We then left that place and arrivedat the village of Koprulu. We settled ourselves there for 24 hours.Attacks left and right... the soldiers were hungry. The Major quickly approached me and said:
 

"Go to this nearby village. The inhabitants have prepared us some food.

No one but you can do this job responsibly. Go get the food and bring it here."

I went. The cart I filled contained 3 stacks of potatoes and 6 loaves of bread. Just asI approached towards our perimeter a bullet struck a rock shattering it into pieces.

One piece struck the base of the cart's wheel and damaged it. The cart was stuck. A soldier seeing thiscame with an ox and helped the cart reach its destination. Our friends enjoyed a good meal.

That night I labored the cart's damaged areas and returned it to the village's inhabitants.

Upon my return, there was a bullet shower. None bullseyed. I guess the time for meto perish was not that day. The day after, the Greeks leaned more towards us.

It was a total battlefield in Afyon. A calveryman approached us and said:

"Afyon surrendered. Watch out for yourselves!"

We had 8 balls - 4 behind and 4 ahead. We also found the Bolvadin Mountains. Later on, Kutahya was captured.

We withdrew to Eskisehir. They passed Sivrihisar and Polatli. Another encounter was in Sakarya, where they attempted to reach Ankara. We were situated in a near by forest for 18 days and then we attacked initiating the Battle of Sakarya.

We attacked the Greeks and they were caught off guard.They withdrew over the river. They went over bridges made of trees,

made of metal and made of train tracks. Some footsoldiers were still on our side.We attacked them. They all were destroyed. We chased them all the way to Eskisehir.

 Upon arrival, we only had 7 cannons left. From there we went to Aksehir in which wesituated ourselves there as well for 14 months. Once our orders came, we reorganized.

Our footsoldiers recaptured by attacking Afyon. It was that same night, the Greeksabandoned the area. We chased them all the way to Smyrna until onemorning the Greeks conflagrated the city. They withdrew out to seawith there ships. In Izmir the citizens shouted:

"Long-Live Kemal Pasha"

The local citizens gave a thank you in a wonderful way. A bakery for instance held up a sign saying:
 

"To the sacrificial soldiers... Our gift."

Every bakery fed the soldiers... The barbers groomed the soldiers... and the citizens

were distributing colognes. As far as Samsun was concerned,

the citizens congregated in a large group applausing Ataturk shouting:

"Live long!"

In fighting the French in Kurttepe, 33 planes flew above - bombing us. A piece of debris hit my head.I was injured there. At one point, a bomb landed near our cannon, but did not explode.I took the bomb and threw it in a nearby pond, to which then it exploded.

 Major saw this and he approached me and kissed my eyes saying: 'Bravo'. There was another similarsituation in the French region. We were withdrawing at one point against the French.

At the point of withdrawal, I took the ignitor wedge and a few other artilleriesthat function the cannon. I threw these important tools into a nearby pond so the enemy would not be able to use it against us.

My wife died 8 years ago and I did not remarry after that. I have 9 children; 2 girls and 7 boys.

 My grandchildren come here on special holdiays.

 Who knows how many of them!? I have a medallion - an independence medal.

* Should be Major Halis. There are two possibilities - either Onder

misprinted it or Recep Tural cannot recall the exact name