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Fiona Elizabeth Cook . Women?s Land Army from Woking, Surrey I joined the Women's Land Army in 1943 when I was 17, was sent to Ripley, Surrey for 2 weeks training on a dairy farm. I travelled to the Guinness Dairy Farm in Old Woking, was billeted with the head cowman, Bob, This farm was owned by Lord Iveagh, with a herd of Guernsey Cows. We did all the milking, care of the calves and bulls. We also helped at harvest time, so it was a long day.
I served 3 years in the Land Army, and actually met my husband whilst milking a cow! He was an Officer cadet in the Royal Engineers, and had come to attend his cousin's wedding. She worked in the Dairy.
I am 90 in March, and we will celebrate our 70th wedding anniversary in Dec, this year. We emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1948, and still live here. My Maiden name was Hilton, and would be very interest to contact anyone who remembers me?
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F/Lt. Frank William Cook AFC.. Royal Air Force No.6 Maintenance Unit from Freeland, Oxfordshire My grandfather, Frank Cook, was posted to 1427 Flight at Stradishall for a short period between 28th of November 1942 and 11th of December 1942. He flew 3 different Short Stirling planes during that period. The First Officer for the early flights was P/O Dawe and then he was First Officer for his last flight.
He then returned to 6 MU in Brize Norton where he continued flying a multitude of planes, mostly Spitfires in this time frame.
He died in about 1979.
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Pte Fred Cook . British Army from Rotherham
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Pte. Fred Cook . British Army 5th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment from Rotherham Great Uncle Fred Cook was in the 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, which served with the 69th Infantry Brigade in the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. He signed up in January 1940 and was in France and then the Western Desert where he was captured in June 1942. He was sent to Stalag IVD in Torgau, Saxony and records show that he was not considered a POW in June of 1945.
There's not much info about Stalag IVD but looking at other stories from men who were there it seems that some of them were captured near Tobruk by the Italians but when the Italians surrendered, the prisoners were then taken by the Germans to Germany. Uncle Fred's regiment fought it's way through the Italian lines as an alternative to taking the short route through the armoured German lines which must be where he was captured. That would fit with what I've been told about Uncle Fred not liking the Italians!
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LAC. Frederick Thomas Cook . Royal Air Force from Biggin Hill, Kent Frederick Cook was my father. I have a letter addressed to him at RAF
Driffield, dated Aug 1945, concerning a claim for war damage to his house at Biggin Hill. He was a fitter with the BMSS Prop Section.
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George A. Cook . Auxiliary Fire Service I am now 80years of age and before I pass on I would like to find out more about my dear father, George Cook to pass on to further generations. I, like so many other young men was only interested in chasing young girls and not taking all that much interest in my fathers war. Just lately I have found out that he must have been in the thick of battles having been into hospital at Etaples in 1917 for a gunshot wound and then into Rouen hospital 9th August 1918 for results of a gas shell. He apparently served 4years and 303 days with the 1st Btn Cambridge Regiment and then the 7th Btn Suffolk Regiment, so must have seen a vast amount of fighting. I would love to know in what battles he must have fought and any other aspects of his war.
He had great courage and joined the AFS in Ipswich during WW11, going to the dock area where he came home with a live, perfect condition incendiary bomb which I de-fused and used the contents to make fireworks. I kept this bomb on display in my hall until about four years ago when I presented it to the Ipswich museum and I only hope it has been saved and not destroyed.
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Sgt. George Cook . I was taken prisoner at Dunkirk. I was at Stalag 4b for a short time and was then marched to Stalag 344.
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Ld.Sea. George Cook . Royal Navy HMS Lightning Ldg Sm George Cook was involved in the sinking of HMS Lightning.
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H Cook . British Army H Cook served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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L/Bmbdr. Harry Cook . British Army 95th Anti Tank Regiment Royal Artillery from Garstang, Lancashire (d.14th Nov 1942) Harry Cook was the son of Thomas and Isabella Cook of Wheatfield, Bowgreave, Garstang.
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Pte. Henry Cook . British Army 1st Btn. Highland Light Infantry from Inverkeithing, Fife Henry Cook was called up in October 1939 when he turned 18 then after 6 weeks training he was sent to France.
I think as part of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force), after a week or so of action he was captured after running out of supplies. He was then a POW for 5 years until being liberated by the Americans.
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Fireman. Herbert Cook . National Fire Service My father, Herbert Cook served with the National Fire Service between 22nd of August1941 and 12th of September 1942 and then being medically discharged.
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Pte. Heston Ben Cook . United States Army Coast Artillery Corps from Texas
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HG Cook . British Army Royal Armoured Corps HG Cook served with the Royal Armoured Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Horace Cook . British Army 5th Btn. East Kent Rgt (The Buffs) Horace Cook served with the 5th Btn East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) and was present at Doullens during WWII.
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Irene Cook . Women's Land Army from Herne Hill, London My mother, Irene Cook, died when I was 11 in 1963. I know she was in the WLA, as I recall she mentioned it when we were on holiday in Sussex just before she died. She also had a friend called Pam who was also in the WLA. I would like to find out more of her service and whether there is anyone out there who remembers her.
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Sergeant J Cook . RAF 59 Squadron
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J Cook . British Army Duke of Wellingtons West Riding Regiment J Cook served with the Duke of Wellingtons West Riding Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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PO. James Cook . Royal Navy HMS York from London Jimmy Cook was born in 1920 in Rotherhithe, London, England, In 1937, at the age of 17, he ran off to sea and joined the Royal Navy. He was trained as a telegraphist and in July 1939 after his training, he was posted as an Ordinary Telegraphist to HMS York, the command ship of the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the America and West Indies Station stationed in Bermuda.
When war was declared, HMS York was in Bermuda and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia with Jimmy aboard. The convoys began immediately and the York was an escort for the first convoy to sail from there, HX 1, on Sept 16th.
Over the next two years HMS York participated in a number of different engagements, continuing with convoy duty during the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, the abortive invasion of Norway in April/May of 1940 and the defense of Crete in 1941.
Jimmy had a number of different assignments on the York. Being a telegraphist, he was involved in landing or evacuating troops and other special tasks, in the Norway invasion and in the Mediterranean. During one of these assignments, an invasion barge he was on was sunk and Jimmy and his comrades were machine gunned in the water. After the York was sunk in March 1941, Jimmy remained on Crete until his capture on the 5th of June 1941. We have no details as to how he was captured, only the record from the Red Cross listing him as a prisoner of war. Jimmy was taken to the Transit Camp in Salonika. It was a hard journey on foot with the wounded on donkeys. He later said that he swore he would never walk anywhere again if he could avoid it and as long as I knew him, he kept to his word. The conditions at Salonika were hard and during that time he contracted Sand Fly fever. Eventually, he was shipped by cattle car to Stalag VIIIB in Silesia where Stabs. Feldwebel (Petty Officer) James Cook arrived on August 22nd 1941 as noted by the Red Cross.
Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, located near the small town of Lamsdorf (now called Lambinowice) in what was then known as Upper Silesia near the Czechoslovakian border. Jimmy was kept there for 3 years until his escape in late 1944. We have two pictures that were taken in work camp E-574. Ziegenhals. There were never many comments on life in the prison camp from Jimmy. There was little food and he picked up the habit of eating extremely quickly. The prisoners were given incredibly smelly cheese from time to time and he said many wouldn't or couldn't eat it, but since he had no problem with it, it helped his diet.
My father always said that most of the guards were just regular guys trying to keep their heads down... and he mentioned that mostly that they didn't get any better food than the prisoners. When the prisoners received Red Cross parcels, they traded the goodies with the guards for items that they needed. Jimmy had a great affinity for picking up languages and learned German in the camp. By the end of the war, he would be fluent. Generally, he didn't seem to harbour any ill feeling for the German guards. Although he did mention a guard who stabbed him in the hand with a bayonet for preventing his work detail from doing work that wasn't allowed.
But plans were being made and after a few failures, in late 1944, Jimmy, an Australian and some other men slipped under the wire and escaped their camp. Once they were free and on the move they went into the Carpathian Mountains. Using an improvised compass the little party traveled due west and managed to evade capture. They had several narrow escapes. Once they had to dive into a stream to evade a German patrol. Finally they passed some children one day who spoke a language none of the party could understand. They realized they were in Czechoslovakia. Jimmy related "I called at an inn and when I spoke German I got a very hostile reception. I then said in English...Is there anyone here who can speak English? ... And a little chap at the back said... Yes, I do... I knew then that we were among friends. He took us to his farmhouse and we had chicken soup and lots of other things. It was the first food we had tasted for two weeks apart from some bread. Later, the people at the farm got a bit scared and so we moved on to another farm where we were told lived a partisan who was looking after escaped prisoners. We went to the farm and she fitted us out in civilian clothes, turned her daughters out of their beds and let us sleep between real sheets."
The family was named Czernikova and one of the daughters was named Marie, to whom Jimmy became attached. "While we were staying at the house a German officer and his men came to the place and Marie told them that I was her brother." Jimmy stayed with them for four months. Eventually, even though they did not want them to leave, the little party had to go. They continued on their journey and eventually arrived at the American lines and contacted an American patrol car. After his initial interrogation by the Americans and because of his knowledge of German, Jimmy was asked to help the 5th Counter Intelligence Corps as an interpreter. Always willing to do his bit, he helped interrogate members of the Gestapo and others. The Americans fitted Jimmy out in an American Army Air Forces uniform and gave him a pistol as a souvenir, see the letter telling whom it may concern about this souvenir. The author of the letter, Woodford W Dinning, became a lawyer in Demopolis, Alabama until his death in 1998. Eventually, the Americans arranged for a plane and Jimmy returned to England in June 1945. When Jimmy first contacted the Americans he was only 95 lbs but after five months he put on an additional 70lbs. At this point his time with the military came to an end. He was released from service in November.
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JD Cook . British Army JD Cook served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Jessie Dell Cook . US Army Co. A 44th Combat Engineers from Rt 4 Westmoreland Tn Jessie D. Cook was my papa and the best man I ever knew. He was shot and captured in WW11 in the Battle of the Bulge and was a prisoner of war for 6 months in Germany. He was in a Stalag prisoner camp during which he lived on grass, tree bark, dandelions & broth which they cooked, and vegetables for the guards. He was liberated when the war was over in May 1945. He received an Honorable Discharge, Good Conduct, Purple Heart & POW medals. He was discharged from service October 7, 1945. A year later he married my granny and they had three children, my dad, Roger, my late Uncle Steve who died shortly after papa passed in 2005 and one girl, my Aunt Jeanne. Papa enlisted in the Army, 44th Combat Engineers, Co. A on December 18, 1942. He built pontoon bridges to cross rivers under General Patton. His battles and campaigns included Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Ardennes. Papa never talked about the war much or his time held in captivity but I know he never forgot what he saw over there. I think it was just too terrible for him to tell us. He battled stomach cancer for almost 20 yrs. The doctors said they had to take parts of his stomach over the years due to the things he was forced to eat when he was a prisoner. I don't know what my papa saw, if he ever killed anyone, or even his thoughts about his experiences except that they were just too horrible to speak of. Regardless, my papa was my hero, my everything & I miss him so much! I have looked everywhere on every site I know since I began studying the Holocaust and WW11 but much too my disappointment I have yet to find any records of him. I am deeply disturbed by this & I'm hoping that it's just my lack of knowledge on going about such things. I'm hoping I overlooked something because my papa was and always will be worth remembering.
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John F. Cook . United States Air Force I am looking for the following crew members of the Maxwell House II (SN 42-73245). I have checked the WWII Casualties and these men were not listed on the web page and I believe the following men may have made it back from the war:
Richard Meredith Serial No: 0-728902
Thomas Stephens Serial No: 0-683542
Thomas C. Smeal Serial No: 33253233
Ewell Temples Serial No: 34444337
Charles Pero Serial No: 12168305
John F. Cook Serial No: 19148135
Joseph C. McClung Serial No: 38288140
These men were part of my uncle's crew. If you know these men or any of their family members please contact me. I do have photos of them. The men in this group who did not make it back are:
Joseph C. Rich Serial No: 0-739054
Edward Ryan Serial No: 0-672445
Royal Butterfield Serial No: 0-728565
Fred Hart Serial No: 32437482
I have the MACR from mission B that these men were on. I also have a story of this mission as witnessed from the 10th AF, 7th BG. I would like to correspond with these men or their families. I lost my uncle 2nd Lt. Rich from this crew. This crew was shot down on 27th November 1943 and some were taken prisoner. My uncle was taken prisoner and died in POW camp.
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Sea. John Thomas Cook DSM. Royal Naval Reserve Patrol Service H.M. Trawler Cayton Wyke from Bitterne, Southampton (d.8th July 1940)
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John Cook . British Army Durham Light Infantry My wife's uncle John Cook served with the DLI during WWII and was taken prisoner in 1940. He remained in captivity until 1945. Sadly John died in 1982 but his brother Joe Cook who served in the Royal Navy is still alive. We are trying to find out any information regarding John and any others who might have been in the camp with him.
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Pte John Alfred "Jack" Cook . British Army 6th Btn 2nd Btn ?? Light Infantry Regiment Royal Norfolk Regiment from Swindon Enlisted 1940-01-17 6th Regiment.
Trained as carpenter Clacton 1942-01-06.
Sent to India disembarked 1944-06-02, posted GHO, proceeded to Camp TOj XIOU Field 1944-10-09 - 1945-03-09, transferred to 2nd Norfolks 1945-11-01.
Released 1946-01-17, embarked SS Sibajak to UK 1946-02-04
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Pte. Joseph Leonard Ashley "Jack" Cook . British Army
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Cook. Joseph Cook . Royal Navy HMS Nelson from Co Durham
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Pilot Officer K C Cook . RAF 59 Squadron
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Pilot Officer L E Cook . RAF 59 Squadron
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Sgt. Michael Arthur Cook . Royal Canadian Air Force 50 Squadron from Welland,Ontario Canada (d.6th Nov 1944) Michael Cook joined the RCAF in Canada in Hamilton Ontario. He trained at Mount Pleasant, Prince Edward Island, Air gunner Unit 10 B & G . He completed his training in January 1944, as air gunner, and went overseas. He was posted to Upper Heyford, Burford and St. John England. He flew in Wellingtons,learning to fly in formation, cross country and in familiarization runs both night and day.
Later that year, he started flying Stirlings on bombing raids and in October, Lancaster bombers. He was a Sgt by this point with 50 Squadron at Skellingthorpe. Lancaster 111's were his machine now, and he was rear gunner exclusively on these flights. On Oct 19 they flew to the Neuremburg Marshalling yards in Germany on a night run of 8 hours. Two days later they flew to Flushing and then on Oct 29 to Bergen to bomb submarine pens, another 7 hour flight at night. He was now up to 150 hours of flying time. November saw him flying at night to Hamburg, Emms and Dortmund. 6th November is the last flight entered in his log book. He had flown 100.25 hr during the day and 90.35 at night.
His last flight with 7 crew men left in a Lancaster and failed to return after an operational attack on Gravenhurst Germany. It left base at 16.19 hours on 6th November after which no further news was received.
An extract from the German Tottenliste #264 forwarded by the International Red Cross states that 7 were killed on Nov 6 1944.
Crew members, who are all buried in the Heerde general cemetery, Holland, 9 miles from SW Zwolle. were: -
- Flt/Sgt Ralph Andrew Dowling (R/270087),Toronto, coll. grave 667
- P/O George Amos Dunkelman (J/95289),Midland,Ontario, coll. grave 667
- F/O Frederick Arthur Horning (J/36835), Toronto, coll. grave 667
- F/O Robert Edward Rennie (J25818), Prince Edward Island, coll. grave 667
- F/O George Thompson Gilbert Terris (J/36306), B.C. grave 666
- Sgt William Darby (1737140), coll. grave 667
- Flt/Sgt Michael Arthur Cook (R/263352), grave 665
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