F Moore, Sir George Grey Collections, Auckland Libraries
Frank Henry Moore was born in Wanganui on 10 April 1893 and grew up around Mangaweka.
At the outbreak of World War One, Frank Moore was working as a saw-miller at Hihitahi which is half way between Taihape and Waiouru. Frank had completed Territorial service with D Company, 7th Wellington West Regiment before joining up and enlisted, age 21, on 18 August 1914.
10/456 Private Frank Moore embarked from Wellington on 16 October aboard the Arawa, disembarking at Alexandria, Egypt, on 4 December 1914.
After training at Zeitoun Camp under the strict eye of Lieutenant Colonel William Malone, the men of the Wellington Infantry Battalion left for Lemnos and then landed at Gallipoli, late in the evening of 25 April 1915. The men of the 7th Wellington West Coast along with the 9th Hawkes Bay Company, and the Wellington Machine-Gun Section were all ashore probably by the early hours of 26 April. They took cover in a gully near the beach, and by all accounts it was relatively quiet.
When the day dawned on the 26th, heavy Turkish shrapnel fire started. It stopped at midday due to British Naval guns pounding the hills but Turkish sniping continued throughout the day. Small Turkish patrols would crawl through the scrub and the Kiwis would take pot shots at them, giving a cheer if any were hit.
On the 27th, Frank Moore and the rest of the Wellington Battalion would experience their first taste of serious action when they had to clamber up towards Russell’s Top under heavy fire and later carry out a bayonet charge towards the Turkish lines. The Wellington Battalion would lose 25 men on that day, with many more wounded.
On 29 April when the ‘Battle of the Landing’ was effectively over, Turkish snipers were hitting their targets and at some stage during the day, Frank Moore was shot and killed along with a further 22 Wellington men. The first four days of fighting had proved extremely costly for the Anzacs.
Private Frank Moore’s body, like many, was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey, Panel 76. Frank is also commemorated on the local war memorial in Mangaweka.
Frank Moore’s KGV Memorial Plaque is on display at the National Army Museum in Waiouru.