COOKE, John Thornley Mowbray
| Service Number: | 140429 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 May 1943 |
| Last Rank: | Leading Aircraftman |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, 11 October 1924 |
| Home Town: | Henley Beach South, Charles Sturt, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Christian Brothers (Rostrevor) College, South Australia |
| Occupation: | Junior Clerk (SA Railways) |
| Died: | Hindmarsh, South Australia, 3 November 1989, aged 65 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia The South Australian Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: | Adelaide South Australian Railways WW1 & WW2 Honour Boards, Henley Beach Council WW2 Honour Roll and Addendum |
World War 2 Service
| 25 May 1943: | Involvement 140429 | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 May 1943: | Enlisted Adelaide | |
| 25 May 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 140429 | |
| 26 Feb 1946: | Discharged | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Leading Aircraftman John Thornley Mowbray Cooke (Service No:140429) enlisted in the RAAF on 25 May 1943 at No 5 Recruiting Centre Adelaide as an Aircraftman I - mustered as Trainee Radio Operator and re mustered as Radar Operator. ACI Cooke was attached to No 58 Radar Station and 42 Radar Wing before serving in Merauke (18 December 1943 - 17 march 1945) as a Leading Aircraftman attached to 316 and 151 Radar Stations. LAC Crooke was attached to 14 Stores Unit at Discharge on 26 February 1946.
John was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1924, second of three children of Vincent (Vin) Cyril Cooke (b1886 in Callington, Mt Barker, South Australia) and Bertha (Bertie) Gladys Mowbray (b1893 in Mailtand, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia). Vin and Bertie married in 1917 in Adelaide, and settled in Mt Pleasant, where they raised their family. Vin was a Blacksmith and the Mt Pleasant Scoutmaster until the 1930s, when the family moved to Lockleys in Hindmarsh and Vin worked as an Instructor.
John was working as a Junior Clerk with the SA Railways in 1943 when he enlisted in the RAAF, and following his Discharge in 1946 returned to South Australia and worked as a Clerk at Henley Beach. By 1949 John had joined the Commonwealth Bank, and moved to Sydney where he was a Bank Officer in 1952 when he married Maureen Therese Kearney (b1926 in Sydney, New South Wales). John and Maureen settled in Sydney, where they raised their family and John was a Bank Officer. In the 1960s the family moved to Adelaide, where John was a Bank Manager in 1989 when he died. Maureen died in 2010.
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