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| '''Edger Christopher Cookson''' ] ] (1883 – 1915) was a ] and recipient of the ]. | '''Edger Christopher Cookson''' ] ] (1883 – 1915) was a ] during the ], and recipient of the ]. | ||
| ==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
Revision as of 04:53, 18 February 2009
Edger Christopher Cookson VC DSO (1883 – 1915) was a British Naval officer during the First World War, and recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Biography
Cookson was born on 13 December 1883 to Capt. W. E. Cookson, R.N. He was 31 years old and a Lieutenant-Commander in the in command of HMS Comet when his actions, on 28 September 1915, during the advance on Kut-el-Amara, Mesopotamia earned him the Victoria Cross. He was shot several times by the enemy that day, and died within a few minutes.
Citation
On the 28th September, 1915, the river gunboat "Comet" had been ordered with other gunboats to examine and, if possible, destroy an obstruction placed across the river by the Turks. When the gunboats were approaching the obstruction a very heavy rifle and machine gun fire was opened on them from both banks. An attempt to sink the centre dhow of the obstruction by gunfire having failed, Lieutenant-Commander Cookson ordered the "Comet" to be placed alongside, and himself jumped on to the dhow with an axe and tried to cut the wire hawsers connecting it with the two other craft forming the obstruction. He was immediately shot in several places and died within a very few minutes.
— The London Gazette, 21 May 1915
References
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- VCs of the First World War - The Naval VCs (Stephen Snelling, 2002)
- ^ Cookson, Edger Christopher, Commonwealth War Graves Commission