Members Remember Their Ancestors This Anzac Day

PRESS RELEASE ~ 23rd April, 2004

Genes Reunited Members Remember Their Ancestors This Anzac Day

As a mark of respect for the men and women who have fought and died in war, ancestry website Genes Reunited has posted its members’ family reminiscences of war time on the site to mark this Anzac Day.

Hundreds of members responded to the invitation to remember their relatives who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey early that morning in 1915 and all others who lived through war time. A dedicated section of the website displays their stories along with treasured photographs, letters and poems.

Martine Parnell, Head of Genes Reunited, says: “This year’s Anzac commemoration is made especially poignant with 2005 marking the 60th anniversary of World War Two. We wanted to offer our members the opportunity to reflect on the past and many have written in to tell us of their personal discoveries. Their stories are wonderfully touching and serve as an important reminder lest we forget.”

Genes Reunited member Gennie Barton, who is tracing her late father’s roots through the site, recalls how he left England in 1939 for adventure and arrived in Australia at the age of 18. When war broke out he walked 700 miles from Broken Hill to Melbourne and joined up with the Australian Imperial Forces as a Private (lying about his age). He fought in the Western Desert, Greece and Crete and was taken a Prisoner of War on Crete.

Gennie has posted one of her father’s poems on the site for others to share.

********

Bardia 1941

The first dead man I saw was one of ours.

We were advancing, rifles at the port, I knew his name AND number for the powers that be had made me Clerk Grade 3.

What sort of war was this? Men actually killed?

Men actually KILLED! I looked and half expected him to rise with no blood spilled and none intended. Look at me and laugh and say "I fooled yer that time sport." But not without a head he wouldn't!

There we were, in line abreast advancing, not a shot been fired in anger, suddenly a whirr of something overhead and there he was, a headless torso on the desert sand; a name and number, that’s all, just because the enemy fired a gun we understand.

Cause and effect. One moment he was there, as large as life and looking in the pink, but not the next. One does not stand and stare

********

Read her father’s story in detail and those of other members on Genes Reunited by clicking onto www.genesreunited.com.

Ends

About Genes Reunited

How does it work and what does it cost?
Members first have to register, which is free of charge, by entering their personal email address and password.
This then allows them to:
- Build their family tree
- Search for a family relation
- Visit their surname specific message boards
- Get started in genealogy with the sites ‘how to guide’
Similarly to Friends Reunited, members can then choose to upgrade to full membership for the current annual fee of $19.95.

This then allows them to:
- Contact other members and potential relations
- View other members' trees with their permission (option available on member homepage)
- Post photos on their family tree.
- Post messages on all message boards

How to build a family tree
1. Click on ‘add a relation’ and start by entering immediate family (parents, siblings, children)
2. Add or edit relations as you discover more
(If the member has already started a tree elsewhere they can transfer the information to the site using GEDCOM, a specialist feature which allows people to recognize and share information across different family trees)

How to search for potential relations
1. Click on ‘search’ next to a relative’s name on your tree. This will search the database for that particular relative to see if any other member has already added the same individual
2. Search any page using the simple search box
3. Use ‘my tree matches’ to browse matches with each surname in your tree, read message postings related to your surname and contact other members to find out more .
4. For more information on how to get started with genealogy see Genes Reunited beginners guide on the site.

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