Private Bill Cook lay injured and motionless among the bodies of his fallen companions, feigning death and holding his breath, endeavouring to avoid the bayonets of enemy forces.
He listened in horror, unable to help dying mates as the men of Lark Force fell to the Japanese, ending the hope of escape for most.
Suffering from multiple stab wounds that would affect him for the rest of his life, Private Cook was left for dead, covered with coconut leaves.
Once safe, he untied his hands, cleansed his wounds in the seawater, and began his fight for survival.
Private Cook went on to work in Sydney’s railway yards, where, in 1951, he was struck and run over by a train, surviving but losing both legs.
He was one of only six survivors of the 1942 Tol massacre that claimed the lives of 160 others.
The 2024 Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award recipients honoured the 2/22nd Battalion soldiers, New Guinea Volunteer Riflemen, and other Australians killed on February 4, 1942, in a commemorative service.
Award recipient Lance Corporal Lachlan Goulding, a medic awarded for his work re-establishing a hospital ward at Moem Barracks in Wewak, read a closing prayer at the memorial.
“It was such an intimate and opportune setting, but also confronting to be standing on the same ground where so many lives were lost in such barbaric ways,” he said.
The contingent also honoured the 1053 lives lost on the MV Montevideo Maru, Australia’s worst maritime disaster.
Prisoners, including men of the 2/22nd Battalion, drowned when the unmarked ship was torpedoed by an American submarine in the South China Sea.
Earlier that day, the contingent trekked from Marunga Village to Tol, the same jungle path the Lark Force used in their desperate attempt to evade the Japanese.
The soldiers later visited 2/22nd Battalion St. Paul’s Tol High School, named in tribute to the battalion’s service and sacrifice.
The soldiers shared stories of their journey and chatted about home and military life.
“The students were shy at first, but when I spoke about jungle bushcraft and how camouflage can conceal someone right in front of a tree, they were eager to learn more,” award recipient Sergeant L said.
This visit marked the end of the contingent’s 16-day World War 1 and World War 2 study tour across East New Britain – a fitting conclusion after retracing the challenging paths and conditions faced by Lark Force during their defence and withdrawal from Rabaul.
The Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award is given to junior soldiers and officers who personify compassionate and ethical soldiering. It is named in honour of Trooper Jonathan Church, a Special Air Service Regiment combat medic who served with the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda where, in 1995, he helped save children whose parents were massacred. Trooper Church was one of 18 soldiers killed in a training accident when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed at High Range near Townsville on June 12, 1996. Award recipients are selected by Chief of Army each year. A number of them are also named as ambassadors.
