In early April 1915, while the troopship Derffiingler rode at anchor in Mudros Harbour - waiting to leave for Gallipoli - Lieutenant Bob Cowey, commander of 9 Platoon, C Company, 3 Battalion, ordered his clerk, Corporal Frank Barlow, to record the details of the 55 men in the platoon.

      Early in WWI it was not compulsory to maintain a platoon commander's notebook but lessons were learned the hard way and the platoon commanders knew that they had to keep some sort of record of the men under their command.

       Corporal Barlow was extremely thorough in recording the details of the men of 9 platoon even down to their rifle numbers, while other platoon notebooks often recorded just a list of regimental numbers and names and the sections to which the men belonged. Barlow recorded everything, including the fate of the men, until he was evacuated wounded.

      The names of the first two lots of reinforcements to the platoon on Gallipoli are also recorded, bringing the total to 66 men. The poignancy of the entries in the original notebook motivated the author to research what became of these men.

       The result is the story of Lieutenant Bob Cowey and the original 66 men of 9 Platoon, C Company, 3 Battalion.