Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

VX11858 Private Harold Gould, was living in Cobram, Victoria, when he enlisted. Harold was born in Derbyshire England on 29 May 1906. He came out to Australia in 1927 and not long after moved to Cobram. Harold apparently worked as a wheat lumper, and in mid-January 1940 it was reported in the Cobram Courier that wheat deliveries had started to slow and the total number of bags of wheat delivered to the Cobram station would be under 100,000 bags. The total deliveries the previous year was 134,000 bags.

It was also reported that Mr. H. Gould had been badly injured while engaged in unloading wheat at Grant’s wheat shed in Cobram. He had taken a bag of wheat off the elevator, and did not observe that another bag was close behind. The bag fell on his ankle breaking two small bones and dislocating the ankle.

Harold recovered quickly and enlisted about 3 months later, on 23 April 1940. A week later Harold was given a sendoff in the Cobram Mechanics Institute. Mr. M. D. O'Dwyer presided, and when presenting Private Gould with an inscribed Gold Pencil, referred to his action in enlisting for service overseas, wished him a safe voyage, and trusted that he would be spared to return. Within six months Harold was sent overseas to England with the 9th Division. He wrote to friends in Cobram, saying that he had been able to visit his parents who were living in Lancashire, England.

When sent to the Middle East the 9th Division was ordered to fall back along the coast road towards Tobruk in what was later called the "Benghazi Handicap". Due to the speed of the Axis advance and the Division's lack of transport, confusion reigned and part of the 2/15th Battalion, including most of its headquarters and its commanding officer, were captured.

The 9th Division only made it to Tobruk on 9 April 1941, and the next day the Germans made their first attacks on the town. Harold Gould was killed in action the next day on 10 April 1941, aged 34, one of the first of the legendary “Rats of Tobruk” who fell during the heroic defence of Tobruk by the Australian 9th Division. The stand at Tobruk was a notable military achievement as it was the first time Rommel had been held by anyone, and Australian soldiers played a major part. At the unveiling of the Memorial in the Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya, in which Harold Gould lies buried, the late Chester Wilmot, in a description of the ceremony, concluded by saying "Their real monument is their name and their most honoured resting place is in the grateful hearts of their fellow men".

Word was quickly received in Cobram and the Cobram Courier printed the news “Private Gould, who was aged 34 years, was the third son of Mrs. Ada Elizabeth Gould, of Oldham, Lancaster. He arrived in Australia in 1927 and came to the Cobram district soon after his arrival. Harry, as he was known to all who came into contact with him, was an industrious worker, and favorably known. He sailed for England soon after he enlisted, landed in England and while he visited his parents in January of this year, he was soon sent to the Middle East. He was the first soldier from the Cobram District to pay the Supreme Sacrifice.”