| Regimental number | 11881 |
| Place of birth | Sydney, New South Wales |
| School | Leichhardt Public School, New South Wales |
| Religion | Methodist |
| Occupation | Railway guard |
| Address | Canterbury, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 32 |
| Next of kin | Father, Thomas Crook, Hardy and Princess Street, Canterbury, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Volunteer Army Service Corps |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Sergeant |
| Unit name | Field Ambulance 9, Section B |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 26/52/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A24 Benalla on |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Passchendaele, Ypres, Belgium |
| Age at death | 34 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 34 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 31), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 182 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Thomas and Emily CROOK. Native of Leichhardt, New South Wales |
| Medals |
Military Medal 'Was at CHARING CROSS Advanced Dressing Station (map ref. U.19.d.1.5.) (Sheet 28), during a heavy bombardment on the night of 5th/6th May, 1917. He lost no opportunity of seeing to the safety and comfort of the personnel and patients. Under a heavy shell fire of H.E. and shrapnel (20 shell holes are within a 50 yards radius ofdressing station), he assisted at and directed the removal of patients to places of safety. Later on he led a party to repair holes caused by shells in the road and the removing of broken trees etc. He showed throughout disregard to personal safety in devotion to his duty.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 189 Date: |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Medals: Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
