1066030 Pte. William John Cook was born on May 2nd, 1896, in Sydenham Township, Grey County, Ontario. Moving to Bognor, William was working as a farm labourer when hostilities broke out.
When the 248th Battalion C.E.F. was authorized, William attested to the new battalion on December 19th, 1916. Sailing with the unit in May of that year he was reassigned to a Reserve Battalion once the 248th arrived in England.
William was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on November 2nd, 1917, in what was probably a reinforcement draft to take the place of the causalities inflicted on the unit at Passchendaele.
Seeing service with the 4th C.M.R. through the winter of 1917, William was wounded on January 8th, 1918, while the unit was manning the front line in the Loos and Hill 70 area.
Private William John Cook was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on March 19th, 1919. Returning to Canada, William would return to farming and subsequently marry Mary Morrison on April 25th, 1923.
Biography and image credit: George Auer