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John Cook was a Scotland|Scottish recipient of the
Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious
award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that
can be awarded to United Kingdom|British and
Commonwealth forces.

==Details==

He was 35 years old, and a Captain in the Bengal
Staff Corps, Indian Army, and 5th Gurkha Rifles
during the Second Afghan War when the following
deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 2 December 1878 at the Peiwar Kotal,
Afghanistan, Captain Cook, through heavy fire,
charged out of the entrenchments with such
impetuosity that the enemy broke and fled. At the
close of the melee, seeing that a major was in
personal conflict with an Afghan soldier, Captain
Cook distracted attention to himself and a
hand-to-hand encounter ensued, during which both
men fell to the ground. The Afghan seized the
captain's arm in his teeth until the struggle was
ended by the man being shot in the head.

He was killed in action, Sherpur, Afghanistan, on
19 December 1879.

==Further information==

He later achieved the rank of Major. 

==Reference==
*Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England,
1997)
*SCOTLAND'S FORgotten VALOUR (Graham Ross, 1995)

==External links==
*http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ggafghan.htm
Burial location of John Cook "Afghanistan"
*http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbcookj.htm News
Item "John Cook's Victoria Cross sold at auction"


This page has been Wikipedia:WikiProject Victoria
Cross Reference Migration|migrated from the
http://www.victoriacross.net Victoria Cross
Reference with permission.