COOKE, Roy Rostron

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Also seen as:

COOKE, Roy Royston

Rank:

Temporary Captain (later Honorary Major)

Unit / Base:

11 Commando

Regiment/Corps:

Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Service:

Army

Service Number:

117966

P.O.W. number:

275583

P.O.W. camps:

Camp PG75, Bari, Italy

Military Hospital 201, Bergamo, Italy

Camp PG78, Fonte d’Amore, Sulmona, Italy

Camp PG5, Gavi, Piedmont, Italy

Oflag 79 Waggum, Braunschweig, Germany

Honours & Awards:

Military Cross (MC)

Territorial Efficiency Medal

Born:

Wednesday, January 15, 1913

Birthplace:

London

Embodied August 1939 [1]. Commissioned Second Lieutenant 10 February 1940 [2] . Whilst serving with 2 R.W.K. in the Middle East volunteered for commando service at No.11 Commando HQ in 1941 [6][Notes]. Reported missing 22 November 1941 Libya (Operation Flipper) later confirmed wounded (flesh wound) and prisoner of war [1][3][4][6].

Escaped with others over wire from camp in Bari, Italy; recaptured and shot (wounded) 30 November 1941 [1][6]*. Repatriated to UK 1945 [3]. Awarded Military Cross 1945 [5].

Sources

[1] Dir. of Mil. Int.: Liberated Prisoner of War Interrogation Questionnaire 1945/6 / National Archives file WO344/71/2.

[2] London Gazette 34791, p.916.

[3] Casualty Lists / National Archives files WO417/2, 3, and 9.

[4] Prisoners of War / National Archives files WO392/1, WO392/21, and WO416/75/461.

[5] London Gazette 37262, p.4560 (1945).

[6] London Gazette 53261, p.5669 (1993).

[6] Asher, Get Rommel, pp.149, 324,337.

* Captain G.C.M. Playne, RAC, 2nd The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, was shot and killed on recapture.

Notes

[1] Capt. Cooke wrote his unit on the POW Liberation Report @ [1] as "2 R.W.K. seconded to S.B.S." and his middle name as "Rostron". His medals were auctioned at Bosleys in 2007. Here is a transcript from the catalogue [view].

[2]Report of his death in the Daily Herald 26 August 1949, page 3.