For the second time in his Army career, Pte Alfred George Cook, 200573, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was reported missing. It was July 20th, 1917, two years after he had been reported missing at Gallipoli, then said to have been killed, then wounded and finally, after six days of wandering, he rejoined his regiment.

Mother Mrs Matilda Cook, of 15 Langley Road, Luton, was hoping something similar was happening when her son was again reported missing. Following his Gallipoli experience, Pte Cook spent four months in hospital at Malta before rejoining his regiment in Egypt in January 1916.

Sadly, on this occasion Pte Cook had become a prisoner-of-war in Turkish hands. And there was to be no happy ending as he died in Palestine on November 4th, 1918 - a week before the end of hostilities.

Alfred George Cook was born and raised in Langley Road, the son of Samuel Frederick and Matilda. The 1911 Census shows him living at number 15 along with his parents and three brothers and three sisters. Before enlistment he had been employed by plait merchant Stanley Godfrey, of Cheapside.