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Lance-Corporal Harold Cook
Unit : Signals Platoon, Headquarters Company, 11th Parachute Battalion, attached to "C" Company
Army No. : 5110007
Awards : Mentioned in Despatches
Cook was a member of an airborne force dropped at Arnhem (Holland) on 18th September 1944. After six days' fighting he was captured and on 26th September 1944 he was entrained for transfer to Germany. Having memorised the position of the locking pin before entering the truck, he began immediately to cut a square in the wooden side. By putting his hand through the aperture he had made, he was able to open the door and, inviting the other occupants to follow, he jumped from the rapidly moving train. The next day he found helpers, and in deference to their wishes, remained in hiding until an organised evacuation was arranged. When he became separated from the remainder of the party during an encounter with Germans, he continued his journey with four evaders. Although he lost two of his companions, Cook and the remaining two eventually reached the Rhone on 20th November 1944. Here they met American troops who took them across the river to Allied Lines.
Harold Cook died in 1975.