Cook, Earl John

Earl John Cook was born in Portland, Oregon, on 9 February 1891.

A teamster, Cook enlisted in the 13th Overseas Mounted Rifles in Medicine Hat, Alberta, on 26 May 1916. He and his unit sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on SS Olympic on 28 June 1916, bound for England. They arrived in Liverpool on 5 July 1916. On 19 July 1916, Cook and many of his comrades were transferred to the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) and Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Depot at Shorncliffe, Kent. Cook was subsequently taken on strength of the RCR and joined the unit in France on 28 August 1916.

Cook was reported missing in action on 8 October 1916, during the 1st Canadian Division’s attack on Regina Trench, at the Battle of the Somme. On 22 May 1917, Canadian military authorities declared that Cook, who was still missing, was presumed to have died on or after 8 October 1916. It seems that Cook’s body or makeshift grave was later located. On 18 October 1918, Canadian military authorities changed his record from “missing and presumed dead” to “killed in action”.

Earl John Cook is buried in Regina Trench Cemetery, Grandcourt, France.