GONE TO HIS ETERNAL REWARD
Private George William Cook born 8 August 1895 to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ross Cook, of Simcoe, Ontario; husband of Florence Margaret ‘Maggie’ Croshaw Boaprey (formerly Cook), of Kingston, Ontario, formerly of 24 York Street, Hamilton, Ontario. Cook, was a cook by trade. Although he would command a machine-gun in the Great War.
Private George William Cook 453790 enlisted with the 58th Battalion (Central Ontario Regiment), 31 May 1915. He was 20 years old, standing 5′ 6″ tall, 140 pounds, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair.
With the 86th Machine Gun Battalion, 10 August 1915. Awarded three days detention, 3 October 1915. Private Cook took the opportunity to spend some time with his wife.
England
Unit sailed 22 November 1915 per SS SAXONIA. Arrived in England, 2 December 1915.
Private George William Cook, AWOL, 28 December 1915, docked 4 days pay and given six days F.P. No. 2. Not the first time, nor the last, George went to help his wife find new accommodations in England.. To D Company, 58th Battalion, 5 January 1916.
France
Private George William Cook embarked for France on 20 February 1916, and completes his will on 22 February 1916, leaving everything to his wife, now living at Grosvenor House, 31 Churchhill Ave., Foleshill, Coventry. T.o.S. in the field by the 58th Battalion, 27 February 1917.
First Wound Stripe
Private Cook in the line with the 58th Battalion on several occasions following the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Likely wounded during operations at Vimy before 17 April 1917. Cook has no record of being admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station, nor field hospital in France.
The trail continues from No. 2 Australian Hospital on 9 May 1917, Shrapnel, right thigh. Private Cook back to England. Admitted 10 May 1917 at 1st Western General Hospital, Liverpool, discharged 29 May 1917 to Canadian Military Hospital, Eastbourne. Discharged 23 June 1917.
Military Medal
Awarded the Military Medal, London Gazette No. 30172, 9 July 1917. To be A/Corporal, in the field, 1 August 1917.
Reverts to Private, AWOL, 26 December 1917 to 9 January 1918 when apprehended by Military Police. Once again, George has visited his wife, Maggie. Forfeits 15 days pay. From 8th Reserve Battalion, S.o.S. to 58th Battalion, East Sandling, 27 February 1918.
Second Wound Stripe
Private Cook gassed and admitted to No. 55 General Hospital, Boulogne, 3 September 1918.
Killed-in-Action
Killed-in-Action, 29 September 1918. Circumstances of Death. While operating a machine gun from the top of a railway embankment by Canal de St. Quentin, near Fontaine Notre Dame, due west of Cambrai, he was hit in the stomach by a machine gun bullet and died about two hours later.
Private George William Cook originally buried in Delmadge British Cemetery, 2 ¼ miles West of Cambrai, on the eastern outskirts of Fontaine-Notre-Dame. After the Armistice his body, and those of 23 other Canada soldiers buried there, exhumed and re-interred, three kilometers to the west at Anneux British Cemetery in March 1924.
Bar to Military Medal
Likely Cook’s Bar to the Military Medal action at Cambrai, and nominated posthumously by his Commanding Officer.
War medals returned to the War Office, 25 March 1921, reason not stated. His wife Mrs. Maggie Cook now living at 28 Clergy Street, Kingston, Ontario.
Anneux British Cemetery
Anneux British Cemetery now contains 1,013 burials and commemorations of the Great War. 459 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials commemorate seven casualties believed to be buried among them.
Anneux is a village in the Department of the Nord, a little to the south of the main road from Cambrai to Bapaume. Anneux Britich Cemetery stands in a broad valley running east and west between Bourton Wood and the village of Graincourt, 200 metres from the junction of the N30 and D15.
The gravesite of George William Cook MM and Bar. Photo taken on 21 July 2004 by his great nephew in Anneux, France. “I was proud to be the first member of my family to visit his grave”.
Canadian Virtual War Museum
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