S6724
KOOK, Thorwald Emil Lear
| Service Number: | 971 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 August 1915, Adelaide, SA |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia, 20 May 1896 |
| Home Town: | Morgan, Mid Murray, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Mount Gambier High School |
| Occupation: | Telegraphist |
| Died: | 24 April 1977, aged 80 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
St Kilda Cemetery, Victoria Other Denominations, Compartment C, Grave 15B |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Officers of S.A. Post, Telegraph and Telephone Department Great War Roll of Honor, Mount Gambier High School Great War Roll of Honor, Unley St. Augustine's Church Roll of Honour, Unley Town Hall WW1 Honour Board, Victorian Garden of Remembrance |
World War 1 Service
| 24 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 971, 43rd Infantry Battalion, Adelaide, SA | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 971, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 971, 43rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Adelaide | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Sapper, 971 | |
| Date unknown: | Wounded 971, 43rd Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Thorwald Emil Lear Kook's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Graeme Roulstone
971 Thorwald Emil Lear KOOK was born at Mount Gambier on 20 May 1896. He attended Mount Gambier Grammar School before being enrolled at Mount Gambier High School on 25 January 1911 by his father, Peter J.C. Kook, a photographer, of Chute Street, Mount Gambier. He left school on 15 November 1911.
He enlisted in Adelaide on 24 August 1915 (19, telegraphist, single, Church of England) naming his mother, Mrs Ada Kook of Hyde Park, South Australia, as his next of kin, having previously been rejected because of his teeth. He embarked from Adelaide on the ‘Afric’ on 9 June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles in France on 20 July 1916.
After a brief time in England he was sent overseas to France with the 43rd Battalion on 25 November 1916. He was hospitalised with scabies on 11 February 1917, re-joining his unit on 20 February and was involved in major actions at Messines in June and near Passchendaele in October. He was granted leave to Paris from 19 to 29 December 1917, was detached to Brigade School from 7 to 21 January 1918, on leave to England from 21 February to 10 March 1918, and transferred to the Australian Corps Signal Company on 8 April. He was hospitalised with trench fever on 3 June and evacuated to England on 12 June, returned to France on 11 November 1918 (the day of the armistice) and re-joined the Australian Corps Signal Company on 15 November. He left France for England in March 1919 and left England for return to Australia on the ‘Borda’ on 11 May. He disembarked on 23 June and was discharged on 8 August.