The extraordinary story of Peter Rados; The only Hellenic Anzac to be killed during the Gallipoli campaign

As we commemorate the centenary of the Asia Minor catastrophe, we should remember Peter Rados the Anzac from Asia Minor, the sole Hellene to be killed at Gallipoli, who had also volunteered to serve Greece in the Balkan Wars. An important physical part of Peter’s legacy has now returned to Australia.

Peter Rados – The Sydney Anzac from Asia Minor

The Australian archives reveal that Peter Rados was 23 years old when he presented at Sydney’s Randwick Recruitment Centre to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1914 a few weeks after the outbreak of the First World War. Peter was of average height for the time – standing 5 feet 6 inches tall – of dark complexion, listing his religion as “Greek” and his birth in Athens. A cook by profession, Peter had arrived in Australia at Perth in 1910. After working in various restaurants as a waiter, after 12 months he had moved to Sydney and was working again as a waiter at Sydney’s Greek community social club – the Panellinion Club – at Park Street. The proprietor of the Club – Gerasimos “Jack” Zervos from Cephalonia– wrote in support of Peter’s naturalisation as a pre-requisite for his enlistment. In doing so, Jack confirmed Peter’s Athenian birth and that he had known him in Greece.

Despite this documentation, Peter had in fact not been born in Athens nor was his father resident there at Arcades Street as Peter had asserted to the Australian Army. As post-war correspondence from his brother Nick reveals, Peter was in fact born in Artaky (modern day Erdek) on the southern shores of the Bosphorus, a part of a nation with which Australia was now at war. As his brother wrote after the war, Peter had hidden the fact of his Ottoman origins and nationality so as “not [to] interfere with his enlisting” in the AIF. Supported by Jack Zervos statement and the police having confirmed his “good character”, Peter’s naturalisation was duly approved in September 1914.

The sources also reveal that at some stage the young Peter left Artaky and made his way to Greece. In doing so, he experienced his first taste of military service. His enlistment papers cite his previous 8 months volunteer service with the Greek Army during the “Balkan War”. It is possible that Peter had met Jack Zervos in Greece around this time, Jack having left Greece for Australia in 1902.

When Peter enlisted in August 1914 he did so on the same day as two other Hellenic residents of the Club – 24 year old carpenter Jack Mark from Cephalonia (whose mother’s name was Drakopoulos) and 26 year old cook George Cretan from Chania, Crete. Both had previous Greek military service, had arrived in Australia in 1912.

It should be noted that the Australian recruitment and naturalisation documentation for these young men also reflects the racism of the day. Indigenous Australians were not entitled to enlist in the Australian forces in the First World War, although a significant number did so. Both Peter and George’s documents include police statements that they were “not a coloured man”, no doubt a reference to both applicants being recorded as of “dark complexion.” Jack Mark apparently required no such declaration no doubt due to his complexion being recorded as “fair.”

To War and Death at Gallipoli

Following his successful naturalisation, Peter’s enlistment into the AIF was confirmed. He was allocated to the 3rd Battalion – as were his fellow Panellinion Club associates Jack Mark and George Cretan – now all Privates. After completing their initial military training, Peter and the 3rd Battalion made its way to Port Macquarie to board a troopship named after the great Greek playwright Euripides, a ship that would take him overseas to war.

I wonder what this Hellene from Asia Minor was thinking as he sailed across the Aegean to Lemnos, in waters not unfamiliar to him. Did he mention this fact to his fellow diggers, telling stories of the life of the Greeks of Asia Minor? We’ll never know. But we do know that he arrived at Lemnos on 8th April. We know from his Battalion War Diary that Peter continued his military training at Lemnos, landing on the shores of Mudros Bay on a number of occasions. Was Peter one of the hundreds of soldiers from the battalion who were given leave to have their clothes washed at Mudros town?

The Battalion sailed from Lemnos to take part in the landings at Anzac Cove on 25th April. They were part of some 12,000 Australian soldiers who landed that morning. Nearly 5,000 would be killed, wounded or missing. While Peter along with Jack and George survived the landing, Peter would be killed soon after. On 19 May he is recorded as having been killed in action, the Battalion War Diary detailing the Ottoman attack on their positions in the early hours of that morning. Nearly 100 of the Battalion were killed or wounded. 23 year old Peter was one of those killed.

He was buried the same day at Shrapnel Gully on the Peninsula, the service conducted by the 1st Brigades Chaplain William McKenzie, from Bendigo. He now lies near Anzac Cove where he came ashore, in Ari Burnu Cemetery along with another 150 of his comrades. A few years ago I visited Peter’s grave.

Peter Rados’ War medals return to Australia

Following his death the Australian authorities endeavoured to follow Peter’s instructions. A package containing his personal effects – “a disc and cards” – was returned from the Athens address he had given for his next of kin with the notation “unclaimed”, another message returned marked “not known”. By mid 1916, the authorities had decided to forward these effects in accordance to Peter’s will to Jack Zervos.

The Rados story then moves to Atlantic City in the United States. It was from here in 1919 that Peter’s brother Nick began to communicate with the Australian authorities to determine the fate of his brother. In these letters Nick confirmed that Peter was not only from Artaky but that his parents had sought advice in late 1916 as to Peter’s whereabouts from the US Consul in Smyrna, where they were then living. Nick wrote that around 1917 both parents had died “through the hardships of the war”. He also informed the Australian authorities in 1919 that Peter had four young sisters – Mareka aged 15, Antho aged 13, Smaro aged 11 and Georgia aged 10 – who were living in Artaky under the guardianship of one Strato Langina. While the town was then under Allied occupation, Nick appealed to the Australian authorities to show “charity” to Peter’s young sisters as their circumstances were “very poor” due to the war.

While the Australian authorities passed on this request to Jack Zervos as the sole beneficiary of Peter’s Will, the files contain no response to this appeal. Given the subsequent history of the region, it is no doubt that these poor young girls would have been uprooted – and most probably killed – in the Asia Minor catastrophe.

Yet Nick’s persistence resulted in the survival to this day of a key legacy of Peter’s service. Having proven his bona-fides as next of kin, Nick was sent Peter’s Australian service medals and other commemorative artifacts. These were his three service medals – the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal – the Memorial Plaque (known popularly as the “Dead Man’s Penny”) and the Where the Australian’s Rest memorial booklet prepared by Charles Bean.

Last year I was contacted by David Helfgott, a retired pharmacist, amateur military historian and researcher living in Sydney, who was interested in the Peter Rados story. He had been able to locate the existence of Peter’s service medals in the United States. Soon he had taken action to purchase them. They have now returned to Australia. The name Peter Rados and his service number are impressed on the medals, proving their being Peter’s medals.

The return of Peter’s medals to Australia – and to Sydney where he resided and worked prior to his enlistment – is a significant development in the commemoration of Peter Rados’ Anzac story. As far as we know Peter left no writings nor have his personal effects been located. But along with Olive Pink’s evocative portrait, painted during his time in Sydney, these medals are important physical reminders of both his life and his service, providing a tangible connection to this important part of the Hellenic link to Anzac.

Honouring Asia Minor Anzac Peter Rados

It is poignant that during the centenary of the Asia Minor catastrophe the medals of this Hellenic son of Asia Minor should return to Australia. Not only was he an Asia Minor volunteer in the Greek Army during the Balkan Wars but his family in Asia Minor were devastated by the tragic experience of war and the subsequent catastrophe visited on the region’s Hellenic population.

Peter’s family story is a direct Australian connection to Anzac, the Balkan Wars and the Asia Minor catastrophe. His life and service should be recognised in this year’s Asia Minor catastrophe centenary commemorative services. I am sure that many will join me in warmly welcoming David Helfgott’s action in securing them and bringing them home to Australia.

Jim Claven is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author. He has been researching the Hellenic link to Australia’s Anzac tradition for over ten years, conducting field research in Greece and at Gallipoli. He is the author of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed: A Pictorial History of the Anzacs in the Aegean 1915-16, a contributor to Mates & Allies published by the Australian Embassy in Greece in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Greek campaign and author of the forthcoming Grecian Adventure – Greece 1941 – Anzac Trail Stories and Photographs. He acknowledges the assistance of Paul Sougleris and the work of the Kythera-family-net website in researching this article. He can be contacted at jimclaven@yahoo.com.au

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