Langoulant, Edward Laurel

203 Corporal Edward Laurel Langoulant - 3rd Field Ambulance

Edward Laural Langoulant was born in Beverley WA in 1894 to Charles and Susan Langoulant. He had seven siblings, the majority of whom were born in Fremantle, Pansy (1889), Eva (1890), Grace (1893), Douglas (1902), Iris (1905), Arthur (1907) and Jean (1912).

The family were living at 12 Bellevue Terrace Fremantle. Edward was educated locally at Fremantle Boys School and after leaving school took up work as a clerk and electrical engineer.

During this time he also served in the Senior Cadets and was also with the Fremantle section of the Australian Engineers of the Citizens Military Forces.

On the 17th August 1914, the 19 year old Edward offered his services to the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 11 inches;

Weight - 12 stone 7;

Chest Measurement - 40-44 inches;

Complexion - Dark;

Eyes - Brown;

Hair - Black.

After being sent to Blackboy Hill Camp Edward was assigned to 'C' Section of the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance. He trained with this unit in WA for the next few months.

Pictured below is a photo of Edward and some mates in the 3rd Field Ambulance. (AWM A02827) Edward is seventh from left and fourth from left is John Simpson Kirkpatrick.

On the 31st October 1914 Edward and his group embarked from Fremantle Harbour aboard the transport ship HMAT Medic. The ship then moored in Gage Roads until the 2nd November 1914 when they set sail for Egypt. After arriving in Egypt they set up camp at Mena near the pyramids.

In April 1915 the 3rd Field Ambulance were on Lemnos Island and they spent their time undergoing training in evacuating casualties.

On the 25th April 1915 the 3rd Field Ambulance landed at Gallipoli with the infantry and from the start they were kept busy with evacuating casualties. From the beginning they were under severe rifle, machine gun and artillery fire. The men of the Field Ambulance often had to expose themselves to danger in order to evacuate casualties.

The 3rd Field Ambulance had a large number of casualties but so far Edward was living a charmed life and was not wounded or killed. For the next few months Edward was kept busy with evacuating casualties either through Turkish fire or from sickness.

Due to his engineering background Edward was keen to serve with one of the Field Engineering Companies. These companies were quite small in the number of personnel they had but on the 5th August 1915 Edward was granted a transfer to the 2nd Field Company of Engineers.

At this time the 2nd FCE were being kept busy around Leane's Trench and Lone Pine. Four days after joining his new unit Edward was hit by a Turkish bullet in the right leg.

After being patched up by his old friends in the 3rd Field Ambulance Edward was sent aboard the Hospital Ship Dongola and transported back to Egypt. He was admitted to the 14th General Hospital and was here for a few weeks before being transferred to the 2nd Australian General Hospital.

To exacerbate his wounds Edward was also diagnosed with rheumatism which somewhat delayed his recovery. On the 23rd October 1915 he was transferred to Mena War Hospital in Cairo. On the 28th November 1915 he was transferred to Mena Convalescent Hospital.

During his time in Egypt, Edward wrote a letter home which was later published in the Sunday Times;

IN THE THICK OF IT

AN AMBULANCE MAN'S EXPERIENCE

Private E. L. Langoulant, writing from hospital in Egypt:- I suppose you will have heard that I have, been wounded long before this reaches you. It is only a very slight wound in the right calf, and I am able to walk about a bit with the aid of a stick. Now, I suppose you want to know how I got wounded, and all the rest, so here goes. On Wednesday, August 4, I heard that the Engineer Corps were short of men, so up I went and saw

the officer in charge of Engineers, and on Thursday afternoon I got orders to report to the 2nd Field Company of Engineers. Well, next morning (Friday) a sergeant comes to me and tells me to fall in at 4 p.m. in battle order. 4 p.m. arrives, and every man is given a pick or a shovel and four empty sandbags each, and off we go to the trenches. We arrive at the trenches and learn, that we are to make a general attack on the Turkish positions directly in front of us, and a party of engineers have to go out to dig communication saps as soon as our infantry get into the Turkish trenches. At 4.30 p.m. the artillery opens fire on Turkish trenches, and the order is passed along to fix bayonets and charge magazines. Everything ready. At 5.30 the artillery ceased fire, and immediately three whistles are blown and up the scaling ladders and out of the trenches surge the 2nd Battalion, with the 3rd Battalion and our party on their heels. The man on my right falls, then another in front, then my foot gets caught in a piece of barbed wire and over I go. I soon find I am not hurt, and up I get again. I reach the Turks' first line, and jump in, only to find that it is nearly full of dead and dying Turks (of course a few of our fellows too), so having lost my pick and sandbags, I thought it best to push on. In the second line things are very much the same as the first, so on to the third I go and find the fight pretty willing, but we soon get Turks out of that, and there we settled down to it thick and heavy. Well, I had an hour or two of that and thought I had better try to find some engineers, so back I go to the Turks' first line, and happened to find one of my party, and we decide that the best thing to do is to get back to our own lines as two of us cannot do much sapping without picks or shovels. So back we crawl, all going well until we are getting over our own parapet, when my mate gets one clean through both legs. I quickly get him fixed up and the stretcher-bearers soon had him away. I found our officer and tell him what had happened, and he put me with the party who are sapping from our lines. Well, at daybreak we had a good communication trench right through, and food and water going through. One by one our Engineers returned, practically all but our lieutenant, and he has not been heard of since. Well, after that we were working pretty constantly, putting up bomb-proof shelters, etc, etc., until Monday afternoon. Then our officer told us to go and get something to eat and have a bit of a spell. I was on my way to my dug-out when bang! right behind me. I spun round two or three times, then down I go. Somebody calls for stretcher-bearers, and I see two of the old 3rd Field Ambulance boys coming like racehorses. My first field dressing is on the wound in no time, and I am half carried and half run to the dressing station, for it is raining shrapnel now. In the dressing station a cup of hot cocoa is waiting for me, and then I am able to walk to the beach with the aid of one stretcher bearer, then on to the hospital ship, and away to Alexandria. Motor ambulances are waiting, and I am sent here, where I am doing very well. Everything is very good and every- body, very kind to the wounded, especially on the hospital ship. In fact, I didn't like leaving the ship. Well, a man, was stiff getting wounded after having been at it for over fifteen weeks, and worse still, I think the fighting at Gallipoli will be over soon, and I would have liked to have seen the game through.'

Edward's health was slowly improving and on the 30th December 1915 he was sent to the AIF base. He spent the next few months on light duties at the base and in May 1916 he was transferred for duty to the Anzac Provost Corps. This role last for two months but Edward's health was not improving and the medical authorities recommended that Edward be returned to Australia for health reasons.

On the 17th July 1916 Edward boarded the transport ship Seang Choon and set sail for home, disembarking in Fremantle on the 18th August 1916.

On his return home Edward was medically examined at No.8 Australian General Hospital in South Terrace Fremantle. He was discharged from the AIF in April 1917.

On the 20th October 1917 Edward married Helen Goodall Jaggs at St John's Church in Fremantle. She was the daughter of Alfred John Jaggs, a returned soldier from Moran Street Fremantle.

Edward Langoulant died on the 15th March 1955.