APersonIndependent states
Corporal Seyit
Hero of the Gallipoli campaign (1889–1939) who on 18 March 1915 carried a 275 kg shell on his back to load a gun.
Seyit Ali Çabuk was born in Havran, Balıkesir. In the First World War he served as a gunner in the Rumeli Mecidiye battery defending the Dardanelles.
On 18 March 1915, as the combined British and French fleet tried to force the strait, the battery's shell-hoist broke. Corporal Seyit lifted a 275 kg shell onto his back and carried it to the gun; one of the shells fired struck the British battleship HMS Ocean.
His feat became a symbol of the victory at Çanakkale. Asked later to lift the same shell again, he is said to have replied, "If there is a war, I will lift it again." He died in 1939, and a statue of him stands in Eceabat.
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Updated: October 2, 2026