JULY 15, 1915, was a sad day for Alton as on that day one its finest sons, Lieutenant Colonel Cecil H Palmer, was shot and killed by a sniper in Gulley Ravine in the battle for Gallipoli.

One hundred years later, his granddaughter, four grandsons and their wives travelled to commemorate his death.

They went with their Turkish friend Murat Atac, in a spirit of friendship and reconciliation. Two of Murat’s great uncles died at Gallipoli, while a third died of his wounds in his home town. Murat arranged the trip, ably assisted by excellent Turkish guide Bar.

After learning about the complex history of the region, the Palmer family spent three days exploring the battlefields, which are now a national park. Full of unexploded ordnance, they found that copious evidence of the fighting is still visible on the ground in the form of bullets, shrapnel and bone fragments, as well as the corroded skeletons of landing craft on the beaches.

Col Palmer is commemorated at the largest Allied memorial, the Helles Memorial, where his family placed a poppy and laid a wreath.

They also visited the probable site of his burial in Trolley Ravine, where they laid a ceramic poppy in his memory. A wreath was also placed at the adjacent memorial, which marked one of the countless mass graves.

The trip came to an extraordinary climax at lunchtime on the last day. Bar took them to a battlefield museum, where he spotted a photograph of Col Palmer’s regiment, and there in the middle was their commanding officer.

Grandson Raphe Palmer said: “The museum owner, and the whole party, were overcome by this. What an end to an extraordinary visit. Of maybe 130,000 men who died there, his photograph was there and lives on.

“As Ataturk, Turkish hero of the campaign and founder of modern Turkey, said in 1934, ‘you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace, after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well’.”

Col Palmer’s wife, Hilda, was the daughter of Gerald Hall, who lived at Anstey Manor (now the home of Alton Convent School) and he and his brother, Goodwyn, donated the Assembly Rooms to Alton.

Gerald was the son of Henry Hall, who owned the brewery site in Alton which was later purchased by Courage and eventually by Molson Coors.

The Hall family also built Alton’s Cairn War Memorial on Crown Hill where Col Palmer is also commemorated, along with memorials in East Worldham and Kingsley.

Col Palmer died when he was 42 and left a wife and three young children. His father was the then vicar of East Worldham.