Turkish other ranks' belt buckle : Private C H Livingstone, 6 Light Horse Regiment, AIF

Turkish army rectangular brass belt buckle with attached white metal circular badge. This white metal badge features, in relief on a pebbled background, a crescent moon, the upward facing horns of which enclose a five pointed star. The entire buckle has been highly polished. The crescent would have originally contained the Arabic script for 'Asakr-i Shahaneh' meaning 'Imperial Army', but parts of this script have been erased by polishing. On the underside of the buckle is a rotating brass rod with two small metal prongs which would have attached to holes in the leather belt. There is also a square brass loop attached to the back of the buckle to accommodate the belt clip, which is still attached, but removable.

Charles Henry Livingstone was born at Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1892. In 1912 he travelled to NSW, intending to see the eastern states before returning to his home at Harvey, WA. He was working in Sydney as a tram conductor when war broke out, and enlisted in October 1914, sailing as Trooper 663 with the 1st Reinforcements to 6 Light Horse Regiment. Livingstone landed at Gallipoli with his regiment on 20 May 1915, and served until the evacuation. He continued to serve throughout the Sinai and Palestine campaigns, and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions near Dhaheriye, north east of Beersheba, on 3 November 1917. Livingstone was en route to Australia on 'Anzac leave' when the war ended. He was discharged with the rank of Corporal in January 1919, and after a brief period in Western Australia, returned to NSW, where he worked as a tram driver in Sydney for 40 years. In retirement, he moved to Tasmania to live with his daughter, and died at Launceston in May 1985.

The belt buckle was collected by Trooper Livingstone in the area around the Nek on 24 May 1915, when he participated in the truce which had been organised to allow both sides to bury their dead, particularly the thousands killed in the disastrous Turkish attack of 19 May. Livingstone's own account records that "...at the appointed hour agreed upon, an equal number of our men and of the enemy met halfway between the trenches. We stood together some 12 feet apart, quite friendly, exchanging coins and other articles, and in some cases were able to communicate. A Turk gave me a beautiful Sultan's guard's belt buckle made of brass with a silver star and crescent embossed with the Sultan's scroll in Arabic.' The story of the Sultan's Guard seems to have been a popular one on Gallipoli, but the buckle described is the standard Turkish other ranks' issue item of the period. Livingstone continued: 'All I had to give him in exchange were a few coins. Our troops carried the dead Turkish bodies over the dividing line and the Turkish troops did the same for our dead. We also handed their rifles back to them. Those rifles were lying around the ground, but we first removed their bolts. The armistice lasted until approximately 6 p.m. and almost immediately the Turks opened fire on our parapets. We were once again enemies.'