Australian Army medic Lance Corporal Lachlan Goulding stood over the grave of Captain Brian Pockley, reflecting on the courageous sacrifice that led to his death.
The medical officer was serving as part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in World War 1 and relinquished his Red Cross armband – a symbol protecting him as a non-combatant – to safeguard another life.
In giving up his ‘do-not-shoot’ badge, he paid the ultimate price on September 11, 1914.
Shortly after Australia’s first amphibious landing at Kabakaul, Captain Pockley treated a sailor shot in the stomach. During an advance towards a German wireless station, Captain Pockley removed his armband and gave it to another serviceman so the wounded sailor could be carried to safety.
This act left Captain Pockley vulnerable, and he was shot. Later that day, Captain Pockley and the sailor died, making Captain Pockley the first medical officer to lose his life in WW1.
It was also Australia’s first action in WW1.
At the Bita Paka Commonwealth War Cemetery in East New Britain, Lance Corporal Goulding, a recipient of the Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award, shared the story with fellow awardees.
He was awarded for his work while deployed on Olgeta Warrior, providing health support in Wewak, PNG.
In his spare time, he volunteered at the local Health Centre at Moem Barracks, which operated in poor conditions, with limited hygiene and a makeshift ward.
“I focused on creating privacy and dignity for women by restructuring the ward into separate areas for waiting, consultations and treatment,” Lance Corporal Goulding said.
‘I left the country with a deeper respect for cultural sensitivity and I’ve grown as a person in the two short weeks away.’
Alongside a PNG Defence Force medic, Lance Corporal Goulding cleaned the clinic, trained staff to use defibrillation machines, organised medical supplies and addressed resupply issues.
They also helped improve wound-care practices and hygiene, and enabled the hospital to hold patients overnight with basic resuscitation capability, despite intermittent power.
On the recent battlefield tour, Lance Corporal Goulding and the group retraced the steps of Lark Force soldiers who escaped Japanese forces through the jungle of PNG during WW2.
“We had porters on our trek, but I chose to carry my gear, knowing how tough our diggers had it,” he said.
Coming from a military family, including two brothers, an uncle, a grandfather and a great-grandfather who served, Lance Corporal Goulding credits his Navy medic grandfather’s influence for his career choice.
As a boy, he played soldiers in his backyard, and his passion for helping others made becoming a medic an obvious decision.
Lance Corporal Goulding said the PNG tour strengthened his resolve to train harder.
“This experience has emphasised the need to push myself further in training,” he said.
“It was definitely a trip for the memory bank.
“I left the country with a deeper respect for cultural sensitivity and I’ve grown as a person in the two short weeks away.”
The Jonathan Church 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.
