Studio portrait of 2142 Company Sergeant Major (CSM) William Henry Cook, 55th Battalion, of ...

Studio portrait of 2142 Company Sergeant Major (CSM) William Henry Cook, 55th Battalion, of Goulburn, NSW. A bootmaker and a pre-war member of senior cadets and the 43rd Infantry (CMF), CSM Cook enlisted in October 1915. Because of his pre-war military experiences, CSM Cook was used by recruiting staff at the AIF training camp at Goulburn as the senior NCO on 'The Men from Snowy River' recruitment march from Delegate to Goulburn in January 1916. He left Australia as the senior NCO of the 4th Reinforcement group in September 1916 for service on the Western Front, but reverted to the rank of Sergeant (Sgt) once he arrived at the 14th Training Battalion at England in April 1917. Sgt Cook had just left a trench with a group of ten men during the attack on Polygon Wood on the morning of 26th September 1917 when he was hit by piece of shrapnel through the chest which killed him instantly, age 22. He was buried near the Polygon Wood Butte by a British Chaplain, however the small cross marking his grave was destroyed by artillery, and his remains were never recovered.