Clarence Harold Arthur Cook
Rank:
Gunner
Serial No:
Serial No. 30912
Regiment:
Medium Trench Mortar Battery & 10th Field Artillery Brigade
Suburb:
Ingleburn
Clarence Harold Arthur Cook - Information
Clarence Harold Arthur Cook was part of an Ingleburn family. He was living in Ingleburn and working as a labourer when war broke out. When Clarence was 21 years old, he enlisted in the AIF at the Royal Show Ground Camp on the 4th of June 1916. During training, he was posted as a Gunner with the Medium Trench Mortar Battery. He was then shipped out, leaving Sydney Harbour aboard the HMAT Suevic on the 11th of November 1916 for war service.
Clarence landed in Devonport at the end of January 1917, and was marched into Camp at Perham Downs. On the 15th of March, he left Folkestone for France. Here, he was posted to the 4th Division Artillery, and then transferred to the 10th Field Artillery Brigade, 110th Battery in May. Clarence and his unit fought in many operations including the Third Battle of Ypres. On the 8th of October 1917, Clarence was loading the large howitzer guns at Belleward Ridge near the Menin Road for the bombardment. While loading about 11am, he was killed outright when he was hit by an enemy shell. The men in his unit buried him near Hell Fire Corner at Belleward Ridge. Unfortunately, continued fighting and bombardments in the area, made his burial site difficult to find after the war. Clarence's name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Ieper (Ypres) in Belgium.