The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX1234) Sergeant Clement Francis Cooke, 2/9th Australian Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (QX1234) Sergeant Clement Francis Cooke, 2/9th Australian Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

QX1234 Sergeant Clement Francis Cooke, 2/9th Australian Infantry Battalion
KIA 21 March 1941

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Clement Francis Cooke.

Clement Francis Cooke was born on 19 June 1916 at Uralla, New South Wales, the son of John and Elizabeth Cooke.

“Clem”, as he was affectionately known, spent the early years of his life in Uralla and Glen Innes, where his father worked as a baker.

Growing up alongside his three sisters – Marjorie, Dorothy and Irene – and his brother, Clifford, Clement had dreams of being a policeman when he left school. According to family legend, when the time came he was told he was too short, despite being over six feet tall.

Instead, he enlisted for service on 3 November 1939. Cooke had previously served with the Light Horse in Glen Innes, and saw enlisting as an opportunity to serve his country.

He was allotted to the 2/9th Battalion, the first Queensland battalion of the Second AIF, which became part of the 18th Brigade. After initial training, Cooke and the 2/9th embarked for the Middle East on 5 May 1940.

En route to the Middle East, the 18th Brigade was diverted to England to bolster its defences following the fall of France. The 2/9th disembarked in Scotland in mid-June and was based near Salisbury, in England. During the voyage, Cooke had been promoted to corporal, and in August a further promotion followed, this time to sergeant. After relocating to Colchester in October, Cooke and his battalion left England in November, arriving in Egypt on New Year’s Eve 1940.

The 18th Brigade’s baptism was to take place at an assault on Giarabub, a remote desert village built around an oasis in the eastern Libyan Desert, once the headquarters of the Senussi religious movement. The 2/9th was to be the assault formation. Before it had arrived in the Middle East, a British force had been sent to capture the village, but had been forced to give up due to lack of access to water. A later artillery bombardment had seen large numbers of Senussi tribesman desert, but about 1,200 Italian soldiers remained.

During their approach, Cooke and his comrades were met by fierce sandstorms that removed paint from vehicles and rendered some automatic weapons inoperative. But the sandstorms also offered cover for advancing Australians, who easily took positions outside Giarabub as they advanced.

At 5.30 am on 21 March 1941, the final attack was launched. During the attack an Italian artillery barrage killed about a dozen men of the 2/9th, and more lives were lost subduing enemy posts. Three men named McDonald were killed within three minutes of each other. As the Australian attack overwhelmed the tired defenders, they soon surrendered, and by the end of the day the black-over-blue flag of the 2/9th Battalion was flying from the highest point of the town.

But despite the victory, the men of the battalion were quiet. Though proud to have passed the tests faced during their first battle of the war, they remembered dead comrades, including Clement Cooke.

Initially buried at Giarabub, Cooke’s remains were later reburied at Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery in Egypt, where they lie today under the epitaph chosen by his grieving family:
Though lost to sight
To memory ever dear
At rest

Clement Cooke was 24 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sergeant Clement Francis Cooke, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section