LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Frederick Charles COOKMAN
Service No: 404199
Born: Proserpine QLD, 24 March 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1940
Unit: No. 203 Squadron (RAF), Burg El Arab, Egypt
Died: Injuries from Explosive Blast: Egypt, 25 June 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Charles and Emily Jane Cookman, of Wooloowin, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Murwillumbah NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 22nd June 1942, a bathing party of 203 Squadron members had picked up from the beach what appeared to be a hollow float and brought back to the Squadron camp in the motor transport. It exploded when the truck arrived back at the camp at Burg El Arab. The casualties were as follows:
Pilot Officer David John Bushel (115335) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Killed
Warrant Officer Frederick Charles Cookman (404199) (Observer) Seriously injured, Died on the way to hospital)
Flight Lieutenant Alan Lloyd Fox (406001) Seriously injured, Admitted to hospital, Discharged from the RAAF: 8 November 1945
Sergeant Bernard Murray Heffernan (12390) (Wireless Air Gunner) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 21 November 1945
Pilot Officer O G Hopkins (107923) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Slightly injured
Pilot Officer Michael George Lonsdale Hornby (107952) (RAF) (Pilot) Killed
Warrant Officer William George Lee (406131) (Observer) Killed
Pilot Officer Robert Douglas Lewis (47580) (RAF) (Air Gunner) Killed
Flight Lieutenant George Sumner Stead (70644) (RAF) (Pilot) Killed
Flying Officer Richard Ronald Thomson (402080) Seriously injured, Admitted to hospital, Died 25 June 1942
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/98/544