Street portrait of NX27458 Private (Pte) John Allan Cook, 2/20 Battalion, of Bungonia, NSW, ...

Street portrait of NX27458 Private (Pte) John Allan Cook, 2/20 Battalion, of Bungonia, NSW, standing among family members including his older sister Olive (right) and an unnamed aunt (left). Pte Cook enlisted in June 1940 and on 2 February 1941 embarked for Singapore as part of the 22nd Brigade of the 8th Australian Division. Upon arriving in Singapore on 18 February, the 2/20th moved to south-west Malaya for training and in late August deployed to the port of Mersing on the east coast of the Malayan Peninsula. By January 1942, the 2/20 Battalion was involved in clashes with Japanese forces along the east coast, arriving in Singapore on 21 January to take up a position on the northern flank of the 22nd Brigade's sector on the island's west coast. Pte Cook was one of many members of the 2/20th taken prisoner of war on the night of 15 February, when Singapore fell to the Japanese. Imprisoned at Changi prisoner-of-war camp and then Thailand. Pte Cook died of illness on 5 January 1944 while working on the Burma-Thailand railway.