That two great-uncles were in the first boat to go ashore at Gallipoli.
Having spent 3 years working in Canakkale, just across the Dardanelles, I regularly used to bike around the war graves, of both sides in the conflict, and the peninsula on a Sunday. It's still a sombre place, even in summer, and particularly so in winter. Utter and total madness, a throwback to the stupidity of some of our forebears. The recent Armistice commemorations were very moving in our small village, but having been around the Gallipoli peninsula, I still have a tear in my eye. Desperately sad. Did they survive?
My brother and I (who's the one who's done all the digging) had half a plan to go out for the 100th anniversary, but, events. (Instead I cycled for up the dawn commemoration at Wellington Arch on ANZAC day.) He got hold of a copy of the AIF 9th Battalion's First War history, written in the Thirties, and I'm ploughing my way through that now, and it's in this that the names of those in the first boat are listed.
Both survived the entire Gallipoli campaign and were then transferred to the Western Front. The younger of the two was killed at the Battle of the Somme and the elder at Passchendale (the Battle of the Menin Road). The elder had been injured, returned to the UK, recovered, and then sent back out. I have his metal trunk in my garage.
We visited the area last year and were at Robert's grave on the 100th anniversary of his death.
You have to see the (numerous) graveyards to get a hint of the scale of the loss.
If you haven't been to the Gallipoli peninsula, you might like to. It's easy to get from the airport to Canakkale (Pron: Chanackaley) by bus (almost every hour, takes about 6 hours) and since it's a holiday area for the Turks, there are loads of hotels outside the main season. Eceabat (pron: Edgeeabat) is about 20 mins across the straights on the ferry, and there are smaller hotels there - and they run battlefield tours. Car hire is easy too - you need at least a day to explore the battlefields. I'd go in May. April and Anzac day and August it is rammed. The Turks are very friendly, many speak some English, and I have nothing but affection for them. They are very well aware of their history, but also very respectful of ours. The terrain itself is fairly inaccessible - as the Allies found out; scrubby, hilly, dusty and dry in summer, but the main sites are accessible by road or track, as are all the graveyards. It's all very sombre, somehow, even on the hottest summer days. Even now, 10 years later, I still shudder when thinking about my many visits there.
There are some good books on the campaign which help to understand what happened, where and when.
Troy, Asos and other major historic sites are all within an hour's drive of Canakkale on that coast.