The hero of Gallipoli with a shovel and a Bible

23/07/2025 22 min
The hero of Gallipoli with a shovel and a Bible

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Episode Synopsis


The heroic image of the Anzac at Gallipoli is of the young man, with rifle and bayonet, going over the top of the trenches to face a hail of bullets from the Turkish troops. While that was, indeed, true, there was another hero at Gallipoli, and he carried only a shovel and a Bible. William ‘Mac’ McKenzie was a beloved Salvation Army chaplain. In his day, Mac ranked alongside our most famous soldiers and politicians. He’s the subject of a new biography, The Man the Anzacs Revered, by author Daniel Reynaud.

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