Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Eleven: Colonel C. H. Cook, Canadian Army

1939-45 Star Burma Star; Defence Medal, Canadian issue in silver; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas service clasp; War Medal 1939-45, Canadian issue in silver; U.N. Medal, UNTSO/UNOGIL ribbon; U.N.E.F. Medal; Coronation 1953, these all unnamed; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Canada (Lt. Col. C. H. Cook) undated; Canadian Decoration, E.II.R. (Col. C. H. Cook); U.S.A., Legion of Merit, Officer’s badge, gilt and enamel (Clifford H. Cook) emblem on ribbon, mounted court style as worn, contained in Spink, London leather case, last with slight enamel damage; together with a set of eleven miniature dress medals as above, mounted court style as worn, in matching Spink, London leather case; with riband bar as above with appropriate emblems, and with a miniature ‘Mameluke’ sword and scabbard, approx. 154mm long, silver and gilt, with ivorine hilt, in fitted Eberle, Brazil case, nearly extremely fine except where stated (24) £450-550

The miniature sword with a typed card bearing the logo of the ‘Exercito Brasileiro Batalhao Suez’ reading: ‘Col. CH Cook - Canadian Army. On behalf of all officers and ORs of Brazil Bn, I offer you a miniature of the sword of - Duque de Caxias - Brazilian Army Patron. Rafah 28 November 1961 (Signed) Fernando Soter da Silveira, Lt Col - CO - Brazil Bn’

Cook was first assigned to the S.O.E. in London. He was hand picked to go to Burma with 23 other Canadian officers in 1944 to work with British, Australian and American forward troops to learn tactics for a possible Canadian Expeditionary Force even though the Canadian Government would not admit they were there. Four officers were KIA and two others captured (from "For Your Tomorrow, Canadians and the Burma Campaign" by R. H. Farquharson). The Legion of Merit was for his work with the Americans in Burma. After the war Cook was attached to the Canadian Embassy in London for three years then onto Washington. He wrote several papers on Cold War Defence and was featured on a C.B.C. documentary on the then new camp Gagetown, built as a first line of defense from a Russian attack