Captain Kemal Bey, who arrived in Izmir as the 1st Battery Commander of the 57th Artillery Regiment during the Great Offensive, was killed along with his stableman, Corporal Baki, when a shell fired from an enemy ship hit him near Abdullah Ağa on the night of September 11, 1922, while he was on his way to participate in the operation to liberate Urla from the enemy. Four months after their martyrdom, the remains of Captain Kemal Bey and Corporal Baki were transferred to the graves built for them in Yıldıztepe, Urla. According to one account, when their graves were opened for transfer, the remains of the martyrs were still in uniform and physically intact. In 1965, the 57th Artillery Brigade Command erected a monument at the site of the martyrs' graves. The cemetery and monument were restored in 2009.

A citizen visiting the martyrs' memorial stopped by a coffeehouse in the same neighborhood on his way back and asked an old man sitting there: "Why was the Yıldıztepe martyrs' memorial built on this hill instead of a flat area?" The old man explained what he knew: When the Greeks occupied this region, a handful of soldiers who remained here attempted to defend Urla. Their numbers were small and their equipment inadequate. Initially repelling the enemy, they retreated, eventually reaching this hill. Despite continuing to fight heroically, their strength eventually gave out, and the last soldier in the company was martyred on the slopes of this hill. They all deserve the martyrs' memorial you see.

This is the meaningful story of heroism behind the final resting place of our heroes.