Editing John Cook (VC) (section)

==Death in action==
Cook was attached to [[Herbert Macpherson|Macpherson]]'s Brigade during the December 1879 [[Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment]] at Kabul. On 11 December, Cook participated in the attempt to attack the Afghans in the rear at Argundeh but – faced by overwhelming numbers – they were forced to fall back towards Sherpur. Late in the day, Cook distinguished himself in the rearguard action which saved the brigade's baggage. He fought a determined throng of Afghans, and resorted to a bayonet charge which he led with his brother, Lieutenant Walter Cook, 3rd Sikhs, which forced the Afghans to withdraw. Unfortunately Walter Cook was shot in the chest and was carried wounded to the Sherpur Cantonment and John Cook received a head wound.<ref name="Hensman 2009, p.242"/><ref name=stewart/>

The next day, 12 December, John Cook was still able to take part in the attack on the That-i-Shah peak, which dominated the high ground around Kabul. During this action Major Cook received a fatal wound, being struck by a bullet that passed through the bone of his left leg below the knee. After spending the night on the hill in the open he was taken to the hospital at the besieged Sherpur, but died of wounds on 19 December 1879.<ref name="Hensman 2009, p.242"/><ref name=stewart/><ref>{{cite book|author=Colonel H. E. Weekes|title=History of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles: 1858 to 1928|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gha-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61|year=2011|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|isbn=978-1-78149-333-5|page=61}}</ref>

On 21 December 1879, Major John Cook was buried in the [[Sherpur Cantonment]] British Cemetery, locally known as the 'Gora Kabar' which literally means 'White Graveyard'.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-06-la-fg-afghan-cemetery6-2010jan06-story.html |title=Afghanistan cemetery holds memories of foreigners |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|author=Perry, Tony |date=6 January 2010 |access-date=31 December 2015}}</ref> He was [[mentioned in despatches]] by Frederick Roberts on 23 January 1880.<ref name="Weekes 2009, pp.61–62"/>