ROOK, Wilbur Harold
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 June 1917, Adelaide, SA |
| Last Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | Australian Flying Corps (AFC) |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 20 April 1896 |
| Home Town: | Mount Gambier, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Asley State School, Mount Gambier High School |
| Occupation: | Electrician |
| Died: | 30 June 1952, aged 56 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne Dodonaea, Garden N8, Bed 3, Rose 23 |
| Memorials: | Mount Gambier High School Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Jun 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, Australian Flying Corps (AFC), Adelaide, SA | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun 1918: | Involvement Australian Flying Corps (AFC), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 5 Jun 1918: | Embarked Australian Flying Corps (AFC), RMS Orontes, Sydney |
Help us honour Wilbur Harold Rook's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Graeme Roulstone
Wilbur Harold ROOK was born in Adelaide on 20 April 1896 and attended Apsley State School before being enrolled at Mount Gambier High School on 20 February 1910 by his father, Arthur Charles Rook, licensed victualler, of Commercial Street, Mount Gambier. He left this school on 31 December 1911.
He enlisted in Adelaide on 19 June 1917 (21, electrician, single, Church of England) naming his mother, Mrs Agnes Mary Rook of the Mount Gambier Hotel, Mount Gambier, as his next of kin. A report in the (Adelaide) Mail in early 1918 reported that he was in the Central Flying School at Laverton. In May 1918 the Border Watch reported he was on long leave prior to embarking.
He embarked from Sydney on the ‘Orontes’ on 5 June 1918, disembarked at Liverpool 11 August and was attached to the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) Depot. On 6 September he was sent to the School of Military Aeronautics at Reading and on 8 January 1919 he joined the 6th Training Squadron. He left England on the ‘Orontes’ on 15 May 1919 for return to Australia, disembarked on 26 June to be met by his mother386 and returned to Mount Gambier in early July but managed to avoid the planned welcome387 was discharged on 11 July.
Published in Ours: the origins and early years of Mount Gambier High School and Old Scholars who served in the Great European War by Graeme Roulstone
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