Today, we pause to remember Major Gilbert Eric Graham Cockburn D.S.O. M.C. who was killed in action during the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.
Today, we pause to remember Major Gilbert Eric Graham Cockburn D.S.O. M.C. who was killed in action during the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.
Gilbert was born in Barrackpore, Bengal on 6 April 1894, the son of Major William Cockburn, Royal Artillery. In the early 1900s, Gilbert was living in Tenby, Pembrokeshire and in 1912, he entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
On 3 February 1913, he was commissioned into the Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers) and was promoted to lieutenant in August 1914. Having been attached to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers he arrived in France on 16 October 1914. He fought in the trenches throughout the war, having later been transferred to the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and promoted to temporary major.
Gilbert was awarded the Military Cross on 17 January 1917, and a few months later, on 17 September, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for leadership and gallantry in the field. His citation revealed that he had assumed command of his battalion during heavy fighting during an offensive operation. Although he was shot through the eye and the shoulder, he remained in command, reorganised his men and led an attack onto the enemy’s position.
Following the outbreak of WWII, Gilbert was called up from the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 24 August 1939 (regimental number 8051). Placed on the General List, he was attached to the Intelligence Corps and deployed with the B.E.F. to France. During the fighting at Dunkirk, Gilbert went missing and was last seen on 26 May 1940, and was reported as missing at Dunkirk on 23 July. Later, he was listed as ‘died at sea’, having been killed on 27/28 May; officially recorded as 27 May. Prior to the announcement of his death, he as formally transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 15 July 1940.
Major Gilbert Eric Graham Cockburn D.S.O. M.C. is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial, Column 155.

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