1915 Trio. Gaffney. 4th Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Gallipoli/Bulgaria

Correctly named 11807 Pte P Gaffney R Innis Fus

Patrick serve with the 6th Bn Inniskillings (10th Irish Division) and went overseas and landed on Suvla Bay in July 1915.

They stayed in Gallipoli until early October when the Battalion headed to Salonika.

We find a report stating Patrick is mising on the 31st of October 1915. No POW records are found for him.

He was later to transfer to the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers where he was gien the service numbers WR/278962 and later 347235.

The Salonika front takes its name from the city of Thessalonika in the Macedonian region of Greece. The Salonika, or Macedonian Campaign, began on 5 October 1915, when elements of the 10th (Irish) Division began to arrive at Salonika along with the French 156th Division.

The Irish Division’s battalions included the 5th and the 6th Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles (the first to land on 5 October) and the 5th and the 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers.

They had all been in action in Gallipoli’s trenches on the battlegrounds of Green Hill, Chocolate Hill, Anafarta and Kiretch Tepe Sirt immediately before being relieved and marching straight down to the embarkation beaches at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove. There, on 29 and 30 September, they had embarked and set sail for Lemnos. This Greek island in the north Agean Sea was several hours sailing from Gallipoli’s beaches and served as an administrative staging area supporting the Allies in Gallipoli. There the Battalions enjoyed much needed rest and reorganization before embarking for what was meant to be an ‘unknown destination’ – well known to be Salonika.

All medals have modern replacement ribbons.