Remembering World War II

Name: Clarence William Cooke Rank: Private Service Number: F/40742 Service: West Nova Scotia Regiment, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: March 8, 1904 Place of Birth: Amherst, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: June 8, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Aldershot, Kings County, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 36 Address at Enlistment: Lucasville, Halifax County, Nova Scotia Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Complexion: Black Hair Colour: Black Eye Colour: Hazel Occupation: Truck driver / teamster Religion: Baptist Next of Kin: Elsie Bertina Cooke (wife), Lucasville, NS Date of Death: November 23, 1943 Age at Death: 39 Cemetery: Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, Italy Grave: Section IX, Row B, Grave 16 Commemorated on Page 148 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 28 Clarence William Cooke was the son of Asa Cooke (1873-1930) and Sadie Sarah (Shiers or Shears) Cooke (1877-1946) of Amherst, Nova Scotia. The Cook / Cooke surname appears in the Nova Scotia Museum’s list of the original Black Loyalist surnames. Clarence had five brothers - Chesley Allen Cooke, Arthur Albert Cooke, Seymour J Cooke, Ernest Avard Cooke (d. 1936) and Earle Kitchner Cooke (d. 1938); and four sisters – Bessie Eugene (Cooke) Daniels, Edna Geraldine Cooke, Ella May (Cooke) Gearo [or Gero] and Ada (Cooke) Fairfax. Clarence married Elsie Bertina Oliver on December 12, 1933. Sadly, there was only one child from the marriage, Iva Berlina, who died only one month old in December of 1937. Elsie never remarried after Clarence’s death. Clarence was one of at least five West Nova Scotia Regiment soldiers who died on November 23, 1943, driving the enemy from ‘the castle’: an old stone monastery on Point 1009 overlooking Castel di Sangro in Southern Italy. Historian Thomas Raddall tells: “At 1 A.M. "B" Company (commanded by Captain F. H. Burns) set off in pouring rain and utter darkness for the hill. They crossed the stream without difficulty and Burns sent Lieutenant Blanchard's platoon ahead as the climb began. It was a hard scramble. Sleet and then rain had covered the slope with a greasy mud in which the men slipped continually, and which got into the muzzles of rifles and tommy-guns when they fell. The West Novas were drenched and breathless as they drew towards the crest…” The following four casualties of the West Nova Scotia Regiment also died in the fighting: Private William Allen Benjamin Lieutenant Joseph Alfred Blanchard Private Arthur Harry Edgerton Living Private Harold Leslie Titus Clarence was originally interred on a hill overlooking Castel di Sangro (near the monastery at height point 1009) and re-interred in the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery when graves consolidation was completed in the area.

Clarence William Cooke

Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave Castel di Sangro