A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces

A Great War M.M. and Bar group of three awarded to Sergeant C. W. Cook, 18th (Western Ontario) Battalion, Canadian Infantry - who was thrice wounded in action

Military Medal, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (141649 Sjt. C. W. Cook, 18/W. Ont. R.); British War and Victory Medals (141649 Sjt. C. W. Cook, 18-Can. Inf.), the first with some contact marks, good very fine and better (3) £700-900

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces.

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M.M. London Gazette 24 January 1919.

Bar to M.M. London Gazette 29 March 1919. The original recommendation states:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in action. During the capture of the village Visen-Artois, when his Platoon Officer had become a casualty, this N.C.O. took charge of the Platoon and captured two enemy strong points. He kept his Platoon well together and carried them forward to their final objective with light casualty. His example of bravery and coolness greatly encouraged the men. The success of the Platoon was directly due to his courage and leadership.’

Clarence William Cook was born in Little Current, Ontario, on 4 January 1894. A Machinist by occupation and a member of the 44th Lincoln and Welland Regiment of Militia, he attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Welland in July 1915 - originally posted to the 76th Battalion, he joined the the 18th (Western Ontario) Battalion out in France in July 1916.

Thereafter, Cook led a charmed life, and survived being wounded on three occasions, namely in January 1917 on the Hindenburg Line - ‘severe shrapnel wound to abdomen’; in July 1917 in the Ypres salient - ‘severe shrapnel wound to right thigh’, and in September 1918, during the 2nd Battle of Arras - ‘gunshot wounds passing through right shoulder’.

Cook’s M.M. was awarded for bravery during actions along the Arras-Cambrai road on 1 September 1918, and the Bar to his award for his leadership in the attack on the village of Visen-Artois on the 25th of the same month. Dischraged back in Canada in 1919, he died in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in May 1970.

Sold with a Silver War Badge, officially numbered ‘C53431’; British Empire Service League Medals (2), enamelled, reverse named ‘C. W. Cook, Manitoba Provincial Council, with ‘Commander’ brooch bar and ‘District’ slip bar; another, reverse inscribed, ‘C. W. Cook, Hudson, Man-139 1939-41’, with enamelled, ‘Past President Branch’ brooch bar; an identity wrist band inscribed, ‘141649 Sgt. Cook C. W. 18 Canadians’; riband bar and sundry badges and buttons (10). Together with a number of original papers, including his Canadian Pay Book; two telegrams and three letters regarding his third wound; Discharge Certificate; 76th Overseas Battalion Christmas booklet; 18th Battalion Association memorial booklet; several photographs, and also copied service papers.