On Tour - Greece and Crete ANZAC Day in Athens 2011 - 26 April 2011
Today we traveled down from Athens past Megara Beach where the 19th Brigade was evacuated and headed to Corinth where we discussed the action that had taken place there and the issues that had arisen due to the poor positioning of our force.
Then south following the route that our people had taken to first Navplion and then Kalamatta. These two areas were where a lot of our people were evacuated from. We discussed the demise of the Ulster Prince at Navplion and the need for our people to move on to Kalamata.
At Kalamata we stood on that beach and looked on the breakwater that had our men lining up to await their turn to board one of the destroyers before transiting to the cruisers or merchant ships waiting to receive then.
A number of members of our group had their father or other close relative taken to safety from this beach and we arranged a photograph at the memorial in the town. One member, Maureen Hooper had her relative left behind on the beach and went into captivity. We made a presentation to Maureen of the times for her relative after he went "in the bag". This was well received.