Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 220

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name VINCENT McNEIL-COOKE (Act Lt- Col)

Lef SES 1930

Roll Number 2303 Died 10:07:1943

Set / House F

Arrive SES 1927

Where SICILY Serving with 2ND, ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS

Age 31

Buried No Known Grave Remembered The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born in Gibraltar 1912, the son of a dentist. He was in the 2nd Rugby Football XV 1929 and the ‘Special’ Form. ‘He was one of those who form the real backbone of any School or Society: sincere and whole-hearted in all he did, his affection for the School never waned. He always wanted the army’ (Chronicle). Between leaving school and the war he was in the paint business in Denmark. When war broke out he was called up and had to report to the School of Anti-Aircraft Defence at Biggin Hill, being posted with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. The Battalion went to France as part of the BEF, who then had to fight their was back to Dunkirk., He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) and a commission in the King’s Honours List of 1940 for his efforts during the Battle for France. In 1942 he was posted to and much involved in the capture of Madagascar. By 1943 he had reached the rank of Major, later Acting Lieutenant Colonel with the 2nd Battalion. He saw action in India and Iraq. He was badly wounded in both legs during the landings in Sicily in July 1943, put aboard the S.S. ‘Talamba’, a Hospital Ship, which was then sunk due to an aerial attack by enemy fighters. The ship was plainly marked and was embarking the wounded but this was ignored.