COOKE, Robert Randall
| Service Number: | 1065 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 April 1915, An original member of D Company |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 26th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, 15 December 1891 |
| Home Town: | Launceston, Launceston, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Wickerworker |
| Died: | Killed in action, Bapaume, France, 3 March 1917, aged 25 years |
| Cemetery: |
Warlencourt British Cemetery Plot IV, Row K, Grave No. 34. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Latrobe War Memorial, Launceston Cenotaph, Moriarty Northdown State School Honour Board, Northdown Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Apr 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1065, 26th Infantry Battalion, An original member of D Company | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 1065, 26th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 29 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 1065, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Brisbane |
Help us honour Robert Randall Cooke's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
The son of Robert Cooke, of Launceston, Tasmania, and the late Emmie Cooke. Robert was employed as a wicker worker at Coogans Furniture Factory Launceston, Tasmania, his twin brother Horace was also employed at Coogans as an upholsterer.
Robert served on Gallipoli for three months and right through the heavy fighting of 1916 without a break.
The following is a copy of a letter received by Mr. Robert Cooke, of Launceston, from Sergt. H. R. Watson, dated France, March 9 1917. It was printed in the Launceston Examiner during June 1917.
"I fully expect that by this time the news of your son Robert's death while in action has been communicated to you through official sources, but knowing how bald and un-communicative those same official notifications are, I feel that a little note from one who has been in contact with your son for nearly two years, and who was with him at the time of his death, will be appreciated by you. First, let me say that your son's death was mercifully instantaneous. He was in a trench with the rest of his mates, when a shell burst in the trench alongside of him and killed him outright. At the time he, with the rest of his unit, was hard on the heels of the Germans, who were retiring from Bapaume. We buried him about a mile north of the little village of Le Barque, which lies in front of Bapaume. Your son will be greatly missed by all his comrades in this section, who knew him as a "sticker" and one who never shirked his duty, however dangerous at job he was asked to do. He has paid the full price for freedom, as have you also in letting him go. That is a great deal more than many a man in Australia can claim today — more to their shame. Please accept the deepest sympathy of myself and all the rest of the boys in this section in your bereavement."
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