Albert facey gallipoli book

Albert facey 11bn aif page 2 gallipoli great war forum. Well that looks like professor peter stanley having his say on the veracity of albert faceys book. It is the story of albert facey, who lived with simple honesty, compassion and. When he was 86 facey published a fortunate life 1981, the autobiography that made him and his life famous. It also documents his extraordinary life of hardship, loss, friendship and love. But according to historian chris roberts, a retired brigadier, faceys account only perpetuates one of the myths about the landing at gallipoli. A fortunate life is an autobiography by albert facey published in 1981, nine months before his death. This is the sort of book that makes me feel comfortable and warm. Muchloved west australian author albert facey believed he lived a fortunate life, even though adversity seemed to dog him from birth. This is an autobiography that should be read by young people today. Born into a large family in 1894, faceys father died when he was only a few years old and his mother married again and left him and other siblings to be raised by his grandmother and an aunt and uncle. A fortunate life is the book that describes gallipoli and was written by albert facey. Evidentially, facey claims in the memoir that he was one of the first soldiers ashore at gallipoli, and came under heavy machine gun fire.

Life continues to rate among the most appreciated australian books of all time. Its true that i wasnt a big fan of facey s book but i have. These raw materials are then invaluable to bert when he finds himself dodging bullets on the beaches of gallipoli, in a war that costs him the lives of two of his brothers. It is the story of albert facey, who lived with simple honesty, compassion and courage.

It provides autobiographical details about being a private when the gallipoli campaign was underway. It chronicles his early life in western australia, his experiences as a private during the gallipoli campaign of world war i and his return to civilian life after the war. According to mr roberts author of landings at anzac 1915 facey wasnt at gallipoli until nearly. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. What book which describes gallipoli was written by albert. Raised by his grandmother, he was sent out to work from the. His ordinariness and decency, and the enjoyment he took from a life that by the usual standards was far from fortunate, endeared him to his fellow australians.

This culminated on 19 august 1915 although facey was uncertain about. The style of the book passed beyond plainness into an elemental purity. A fortunate life for younger readers fremantle press. It has been claimed in crunchys good book that facey fabricated his claim of landing that day based on his service file indicating a tos date of d coy, 11bn at gallipoli on 7 may, and that his mentions of wounds sustained while serving there show no mention in his service file other than heart trouble and debility. In the last months of his life, 86yearold albert facey became a bestselling. Well i certainly enjoyed meeting the facey family and getting to the bottom of albert s true role and depth of participation in writing his book and totally smashing the rubbish that was put up by others. This culminated on 19 august 1915 although facey was uncertain about dates 6 when a shell exploded near him and he received severe internal injuries and wounds to his leg. Injury and instinct combine again to throw him into the arms of. It chronicles his early life in western australia, his experiences as a private during the gallipoli campaign of world war i and. When asked in an interview, where the name of the book originated, he replied, i called it a. Apart from alberts time in gallipoli, the book is mostly set in western australia and it is a fascinating account of frontier life in that state. Albert facey overcomes all and lives to a ripe old age when he. A parentless boy who started work at eight on the rough west australian frontier, he struggled as an itinerant rural worker, survived the gore of gallipoli, the loss of his farm in the depression, the death of his son in world war ii this is the extraordinary life of an ordinary man.