Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of William and Isabella Cobb; husband of Thelma Rose Cobb, of Caboolture, Queensland.

HE GAVE HIS LIFE THAT OTHER MIGHT LIVE

KILLED FOUR JAPS BEFORE
HE DIED
As he was dying after a lone fight with four Japanese whom he killed, an Australian captain used his last strength to scratch a hole and bury important  photographic records so that they would not fall into enemy hands. He was Captain H. W. A. Cobb, of Caboolture (Q.), who led an Australian squadron  in an attempt to reach the sea near Sanananda, on December 19.
He has since been buried close to the spot where his body was found. Close round him are the graves of other men from N.S.Wales and Queensland, who died in the same action. The graves include that of the commanding officer of the regiment (Lieut.-Col. E. P. Logan, of Sydney). He was shot  by a Jap. sniper on December 20, and died next day while trying to crawl back to the Australian lines.
Units of the regiment under orders to reach the sea and establish a perimeter, ran into stiffer enemy opposition than had been expected. Cobb's squadron was pinned down in a ditch by heavy fire, and some of its equipment was abandoned. Cobb, anxious that no information should reach the  enemy, crawled away to get it, and was not seen alive again. He had gone only a few yards when he met his death. There may be no one left alive who  knows exactly what happened, but in a hole five yards from Cobb's grave lie the remains of three Japanese whom he killed, probably with a grenade. Sprawling still closer is the body of a fourth Japanese. It is probable that they mortally wounded each other in an exchange of grenades. Cobb, dying,  remembered the haversack in which he was carrying detailed air photographs of the area of the patrol's objective, and a map showing the route to  which they had travelled. He found strength to bury the haversack, and it remained there until nearly a month later the Japs, were driven from the  area. A recent rainstorm uncovered part of the haversack, and it was found by the chaplain searching for Cobb's body. Captain F. B. (Jim) Haydon, of Murrurundi, took command of the squadron when Cobb did not return. He and his men dug a winding trench about 100 feet long leading back towards  the jungle from the ditch in which they had been pinned down. It took them seven days to get back to the Australian lines.