Alec Campbell, 103; in Battle at Gallipoli

Alec Campbell, the last Australian known to have fought in the bloody World War I Gallipoli campaign--and possibly the last from any nation--died Thursday. He was 103.

Campbell died at a nursing home in the southern island state of Tasmania after a short illness, his family said. His wife, Kath, was at his side.

Although he was in a wheelchair, his last public appearance was on April 25, when he led the annual parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Turkish campaign.

“He was the last of the original Anzacs, and our last living link with that Anzac tradition,” said lawmaker Simon Crean, who announced Campbell’s death in Parliament. “We thank him, we honor him, and our condolences go to his family.”

Anzacs was the name given to members of the Australia-New Zealand Army Corps that fought in World War I. The Anzac volunteers formed the backbone of a 200,000-member British-led army that landed at Gallipoli in a failed attempt to capture Istanbul and knock the German-allied Ottoman Empire out of the war.

Their bravery in battle helped the young Australian nation forge a confident image for itself.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard paid tribute to Campbell and said his family would be offered a state funeral.

“Not only is he the last Australian Anzac, he is also the last known person anywhere in the world who served in that extraordinarily tragic campaign,” Howard told Parliament.

Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Campbell was working as an insurance clerk when he lied about his age and enlisted at the age of 16.

Nicknamed “The Kid,” he spent a month fighting in the brutal campaign in Turkey. He arrived in Gallipoli in November 1915, and by Dec. 20 he was gone in the grand evacuation that ended the campaign.

For about six weeks, Campbell braved heavy fire to carry ammo and water from the boats to trenches on the front lines before he became ill and was evacuated, first to Egypt and then home.

After the war, Campbell became a builder, served as a senior public servant and gained an economics degree in his 50s. He sailed in the grueling Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race six times and fathered the last of his nine children at the age of 69.

In recent years, he rarely spoke of Gallipoli, but when he did he recalled an “incredible hail of bullets” on landing on the beach.

“People were always getting hit,” he remembered. He said he did not kill a single Turkish fighter.

Campbell is survived by his second wife, nine children, 33 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.