BURY'S proud military heritage will be remembered once more on Sunday when the annual Gallipoli Parade is held in the town centre.

And this year the parade falls on the exact day that the famous battle took place in 1915.

The 1st Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers won undying fame on W Beach on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Regiment's boast of winning "six VCs before breakfast".

Led by their officers, the Fusiliers hurled themselves ashore from open boats and, under heavy fire from Turk defenders, hacked their way through the wire and secured the beach head.

The cost was heavy: 11 officers and 350 men of the battalion, and 63 of the 80 naval ratings manning the cutters were killed or wounded.

Six battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers -- about 6,000 men -- went in at the start of the Gallipoli campaign. Over the ten months that followed, 88 officers and 1,728 fusiliers were killed and many more wounded.

A devastating proportion of Bury's youth was wiped out in the bloodshed.

In total, 500,000 young men lost their lives during the 37-week offensive.

The six VCs were not the only honours bestowed on the Lancashire Fusiliers during the Gallipoli campaign. They were also honoured with four Distinguished Service Orders, five Military Crosses, two Companion Orders of the Bath, 13 Distinguished Conduct Medals and 43 Mentions in Dispatches. Of this impressive haul, all the VCs, one DSO, two MCs and four Mentions went to the officers and men of the 1st Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers. Eighty-nine years on, Bury will again come to a virtual standstill in memory of the men who gave their lives in the battle.

The parade starts at 11.05am outside the Castle Armoury drill hall in Castle Street to the parish church. It will include members of the Fusiliers' Association, the Fusilier Territorial Army unit, the Fusilier Army Cadet Force, Bury Grammar School Combined Cadet Force, Sea Cadets, Air Cadets and civilian organisations.

The service, taken by the Rev Dr John Findon, will take place at 11.45am. At 12.30pm, wreaths will be laid by the Mayoress of Bury, Mrs Maureen Davison, on behalf of the people of the borough, and the Deputy Colonel of the RRF Lancashire Col Brian Gorski, MBE, the Commanding Officer of the Lorne Scots, and HMS Euryalus.

The march past after the service will be led by the Lorne Scots Pipe and Drums followed by the Fusiliers' Association Band and Drums and the various detachments of troops, cadets and veteran organisations.

It will be followed by lunch at the Castle Armoury at 1.30pm.