COOK, James Wesley
| Service Number: | 1206 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 May 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 13th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Stewarts Point, New South Wales, Australia, 1898 |
| Home Town: | Macksville, Nambucca Shire, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Messines, Belgium, 16 June 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 23 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 13th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 1206, Light Trench Mortar Batteries, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 1206, Light Trench Mortar Batteries, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney | |
| 16 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 1206, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1206 awm_unit: 13 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-06-16 |
Help us honour James Wesley Cook's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Peter Rankin
A family epitaph for him and his brother who was also killed reads- SOMEWHERE IN BELGIUM THEY LAID THEM, TWO SOLDIERS SO YOUNG AND SO BRAVE, THE BEST AUSTRALIA COULD OFFER, THEY SLEEP IN TWO HERO'S GRAVES, MISSING AYE FOR ALL TIME MISSING, TWO THE HOME SO ILL COULD SPARE, BUT THE ROLL CALL OVER YONDER, SHALL NOT COUNT THEM MISSING THERE.
Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks
James Wesley Cook, age 19, was serving with the 13th Battalion and was killed by a direct hit from an artillery shell on 16 June 1917. A witness said he was hit at Gooseberry Farm near Messines and there was no chance of burial as there was nothing left to bury. He was literally blown to pieces and his mates could find nothing of him. Jim Cook’s name is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial. His younger brother, only 17 years of age, Peter Garnett Cook 36th Battalion AIF, had been killed at the same place only 9 days earlier on the 7 June 1917.
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