The Helles Memorial serves the dual function of Commonwealth battle memorial for the Gallipoli campaign and place of commemoration for many of those Commonwealth servicemen who died there and have no known grave. The memorial bears more than 21,000 names. Private Cecil Crane of Badsey, who died on 6th August 1915, is recorded on the Helles Memorial (Panel 104-113).
The Helles Memorial stands on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. It takes the form of an obelisk over 30 metres high which can be seen by ships passing through the Dardanelles.
The eight-month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.
The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25th-26th April 1915. Further landing were made at Suvla, just north of Anzac (a cove named after the Australian and New Zealand troops who had landed there in April), on 6th August. It was on this day that Private Crane perished.