Donald Gilbert Cook was born in Brooklyn, New York, August 9, 1934, he was a career military officer and earned the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. He was reported missing in action on December 8, 1967 and was declared dead on February 26, 1980. He had been seriously wounded and reported dead while, in fact, he had been captured by the Viet Cong on December 31, 1964 while on a temporary 3-day assignment in Vietnam.
He subsequently died in a prisoner of war camp on December 8, 1967 and was buried in the jungle by his fellow prisoners. On February 26, 1980 he was officially declared dead and the Medal of Honor was presented to his wife by the Secretary of the Navy. He was a Captain when captured but continued to receive promotions while in captivity. He has a "In Memory Of" stone in Memorial Section MI of Arlington National Cemetery.
Colonel Donald Gilbert Cook, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam while held prisoner by the Viet Cong from December 1964 to December 1967, was born August 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Xavier High School in June 1952, then attended St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont, where he graduated in 1956.
Shortly after his December 1956 marriage to Miss Laurette A. Giroux at St. Anthony’s Church in Burlington, Vermont, Cook left Vermont for the Officers Candidate School at Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, April 1, 1957.
He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant October 1, 1958 while stationed at Camp Pendleton, California. In 1960 he attended Army Language School in Monterey, California, studying Chinese and graduated near the top of his class. Lieutenant Cook was assigned to Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, in 1961 and was promoted to captain March 1, 1962.
In 1964 the Cook family returned to Vermont when Captain Cook was transferred to Okinawa. In December 1964, Cook was sent to Vietnam where he was captured by the Viet Cong on December 31, 1964 while serving as an advisor with a Vietnamese Marine battalion.
Colonel (then Captain) Cook was in the vicinity of Benh Gia, Phouc Tuy Province, Republic of Vietnam, while participating as a Marine advisor to the South Vietnamese, and went to the site of a helicopter crash with a South Vietnamese unit to check for survivors. When the Viet Cong surrounded the area, Cook was shot in the leg while attempting to assist members of his unit to safety, and was then captured. His personal valor and exceptional spirit of loyalty during his three years of captivity resulted in his posthumous award of the Medal of Honor.
Mrs. Laurette A. Cook, widow of Colonel Cook, received the Medal of Honor on behalf of her husband May 16, 1980 during ceremonies at the Hall of Heroes in the Pentagon. The Honorable Edward Hidalgo, Secretary of the Navy, presented the Medal to Mrs. Cook while Cook’s parents and four children looked on along with General Robert H. Barrow, Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Donald Cook was an advisor to the 4th Battalion, Vietnamese Marine
Corps operating in the Delta when they engaged the enemy on New Year's Eve,
1964. Cook was wounded in the leg during the battle and subsequently captured
by the Viet Cong. Cook was then 30 years old.
During his years of captivity in camps north of Saigon, Cook set an example
difficult to emulate by his fellow POWs. He jeopardized his own health and
well-being by sharing his already meager supply of food and scarce medicines
with other prisoners who were more ill than he. According to one released POW,
Cook was so hard-nosed that he "would have stopped shitting if he had thought
Charlie was using it for fertilizer." Cook became nearly legendary in his
refusal to betray the Military Code of Conduct.
Air Force Colonel Norman Gaddis, upon his return from captivity, described the
impossible task of adhering to the Code of Conduct. Gaddis said that he did not
know anyone who had refused to cooperate with their captives after having been
tortured to do so, and those who had refused were "not with us today."
Cook refused to cooperate with his captors in any way. On one occasion, a
pistol was put to his head as a threat to cooperate. Cook calmly recited the
nomenclature of the parts of the pistol. He would give them nothing.
According to the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) list provided to
the U.S. in Paris in 1973, Donald Cook died of malaria in South Vietnam on
December 8, 1967 while being moved from one camp to another. The Vietnamese
provided this information to the U.S. in 1973, but have not yet "discovered"
the location of his remains. For his extraordinary actions during his
captivity, Donald Cook was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and has
been promoted to the rank of Colonel. Alive or dead, Donald Cook is still a
prisoner of war.
A list of Colonel Cook’s medals and decorations includes: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart with one bronze star, the POW medal the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer Donald Cook (DDG 75) was commissioned in
December in Philadelphia.
Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was the
ceremony's principal speaker. Laurette Cook, widow of the ship's namesake,
is the ship's sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, Mrs. Cook gave
the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"
The ship honors Col. Donald G. Cook, US Marine Corps (1934-1967), who was
posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry as a prisoner of war.
While assigned to the Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, 3rd
Marine Division in Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, in Dec. 1964, Cook volunte
ered to conduct a search and recovery mission for a downed American
helicopter. Ambushed on arrival at the site, he was wounded in the leg and
captured.
Despite enduring deprivation, exposure, malnutrition and disease, Cook
committed himself to providing inspiration for his fellow prisoners to
endure and survive during his incarceration in a prison camp near the
Cambodian border. Resisting all
attempts to break his will, he never veered from the Code of Conduct. He
shared food, led daily exercises, provided first aid for injured prisoners
and distributed what meager quantities of medicine were available, often
surrendering his own rations and medicine to aid fellow prisoners whose
conditions were more serious than his own. Reports indicate Cook died in
captivity after he succumbed to malaria on Dec. 8, 1967.
Donald Cook is the 25th of 51 Arleigh Burke class destroyers currently
authorized by Congress. The destroyer carries Tomahawk cruise missiles, as
well as Standard missiles to intercept hostile aircraft and missiles at
extended ranges. Donald Cook is also equipped with the Phalanx Close-In
Weapons System and Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles, which are fired from
stand-alone launchers.
Donald Cook is crewed by 25 officers and 350 enlisted personnel. The ship
was built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, is 505 feet in length, has a
waterline beam of 66 feet and displaces approximately 8,580 tons when fully
loaded. Four gas-turbine engines power the ship to speeds in excess of 30
knots.
Medal of Honor Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while interned as a Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong in the Republic of Vietnam during the period 31 December 1964 to 8 December 1967. Despite the fact that by so doing he would bring about harsher treatment for himself, Colonel (then Captain) Cook established himself as the senior prisoner, even though in actuality he was not. Repeatedly assuming more than his share of harsh treatment, Colonel Cook willingly and unselfishly put the interests of his comrades before that of his own well-being and, eventually, his life. Giving more needy men his medicine and drug allowance while constantly nursing them, he risked infection from contagious diseases while in a rapidly deteriorating state of health. This unselfish and exemplary conduct, coupled with his refusal to stray even the slightest from the Code of Conduct, earned him the deepest respect from not only his fellow prisoners, but his captors as well. Rather than negotiate for his own release or better treatment, he steadfastly frustrated attempts by the Viet Cong to break his indomitable spirit, and passed this same resolve on to the men whose well-being he so closely associated himself. Knowing his refusals would prevent his release prior to the end of the war, and also knowing his chances for prolonged survival would be small in the event of continued refusal, he chose nevertheless to adhere to a Code of Conduct far above that which could be expected. His personal valor and exceptional spirit of loyalty in the face of almost certain death reflected the highest credit upon Colonel Cook, the Marine Corps. and the United States Naval Service.
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