SECOND LIEUTENANT C.H. COOKE
RIFLE BRIGADE
21ST SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 20
BURIED: PROWSE POINT MILITARY CEMETERY, HAINAUT, BELGIUM
C.H. Cooke, whose Christian names I have not been able to discover, was the son of an Irish-born merchant trading in Chile and married to a Chilean wife. That's why his inscription is in Spanish. It means, 'you will never be forgotten'.
Cooke was seventeen when the war broke out. He immediately left Chile to volunteer for King Edward's Horse, the Imperial Yeomanry Regiment, which was gathering in London. Cooke was one of the many children of ex-patriate families living in Latin America who volunteered to fight in the war, for both the Entente and the Central Powers.
At some point he transferred to the Rifle Brigade, serving with the 2nd Battalion part of the 8th Division. On 20 September 1917 the Battalion took part in the 5th Army's successful attack on the Menin Road. Cooke was killed on the 21st in the German's fierce counter-attack.