Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Served in WWII 39th Battalion AMF Kokoda

Queensland Times Tuesday 18 Feb 1947 page 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117677988

"Doc" Vernon, an unsung hero of the Battle of Papua, is the subject of a very moving and human sketch of "Momo Kana." Dr. G. H. Vernon died in Samarai in May, 1946. When the war broke out in the Pacific he got into uniform with a native infantry battalion.

He Joined the Native Medical Service In the face of great opposition; he was regarded as being too old in a world of young men. Australians who had been in action against the Japanese landing force at Buna were having their wounds patched up by first-aid men in the foothills above Kokoda when . "Doc" Vernon, a tall, thin figure with a dark pullover tied by the sleeves round his neck, and carrying in each hand a white triangular bandage filled  with instruments, antiseptics, and dressings, came down the track. "I heard there was some action here, and no doctor, so I thought I might be able to help until others come," he said. "Now, where do we start?"

He had walked the Owen Stanley Range alone, camping at staging-camps, and borrowing food and blankets, without natives to guide or help him. He was with the troops in all the fighting at Kokoda. When the Japanese came on in force, bullets swished through the grass roof of the R.A P. and thudded into the walls. As "Doc" operated, pieces of grass, cut by bullets, dropped from the roof, but the "Doc," who could not hear them, being deaf, only looked up occasionally and methodically continued to work. While splinters flew from
the walls and mortar bombs exploded nearby, "Doc" went on, calling for probes and needles and dressings until the order came for the troops to get out. Later, at Deniki village, while he attended the casualties, he asked one of his assistants: "Were those bullets that were knocking down the grass from the roof in Kokoda?" 
"Doc."- Will be Remembered

"I'll say, they were !" was the reply, with suitable adjectives. "Millions of them." "Well," said .'Doc," "at first I thought It was rats. But when big lumps, came down I guessed what it was. Of course, there was no danger as they were all high, but it is an advantage to he deaf sometimes. I might have been alarmed if I had heard them !" "Doc" was with the troops on the way back to Kokoda, to Oivi, to Walrope, and then came Sanananda, Gona and Buna. "Men who were in the New Guinea fighting will talk of him for years — that tall, deaf doctor who operated under fire, who gave them a smoke, who put new dressings on, who gave them a cup of tea and biscuits, and helped them along with a cheery word. They marvelled at his energy and kindness." 

Finally, "Momo Kana" tells of an amazing incident at Moresby. A sick native had lost heart and the will to live. The army doctors had done all they could. The rest was up to the patient. "Doc" Vernon came. He looked at the boy, spoke to him, and patted him. His boy's arms went round "Doc's" neck and he cried: "Oh, Dokita ! Me like you stop close to along me. Suppose you go me die finish !"  "Doc" stayed beside him, and the boy recovered sufficiently to be out of danger within three days. It was more than medicine. The man's personality and the faith the natives han in him was the explanation.

DR. G. H. VERNON'S
DEATH IN PAPUA

Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday 21 May 1946 page 5  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17987807

The death at Samarai, Eastern Papua, of Dr. G. H. Vernon, M.C., on May 16, is reported. He was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous, bravery in the Great War. When World War II reached Papua, Dr. Vernon, who had been allotted the duty of caring, for the native carriers, walked across the Owen Stanley Range, carrying his instrument and drugs, and attended many wounded Australian soldiers on the jungle tracks.  He had retired recently to his rubber plantation in the Yodda Valley.