FRANKLIN E. COOK, JR., LCDR, USN
Franklin Cook, Jr. '39
Lucky Bag
From the 1939 Lucky Bag:
FRANKLIN EUGENE COOK, JR.
Pensacola, Florida
Toby, Cookie, F.E.
There is a lot to be said in favor of tall men, but there is no discredit to being small, if we may judge by this specimen. Born into a Navy life, Toby has absorbed its principles [by experience as much as by environment] and has emerged with the desire to excel in his profession. Pensacola gave him his first whiff of salt air, and San Diego now maintains this olfactory delight. The sea is definitely a part of him, so that the Chesapeake has often seen him in his full glory as master of the "Croc." Led on by an ever-strong though sometimes a little misguided, ambition, his activities have been manifold. His good cheer should be sufficient to tide him over the rough points ahead.
Soccer 3; Movie Gang 4, 3, 2, 1; Boat Club 3, 2, 1; 1 P.O.
FRANKLIN EUGENE COOK, JR.
Pensacola, Florida
Toby, Cookie, F.E.
There is a lot to be said in favor of tall men, but there is no discredit to being small, if we may judge by this specimen. Born into a Navy life, Toby has absorbed its principles [by experience as much as by environment] and has emerged with the desire to excel in his profession. Pensacola gave him his first whiff of salt air, and San Diego now maintains this olfactory delight. The sea is definitely a part of him, so that the Chesapeake has often seen him in his full glory as master of the "Croc." Led on by an ever-strong though sometimes a little misguided, ambition, his activities have been manifold. His good cheer should be sufficient to tide him over the rough points ahead.
Soccer 3; Movie Gang 4, 3, 2, 1; Boat Club 3, 2, 1; 1 P.O.
Loss
Franklin was lost on October 12, 1944 during the Formosa Air Battle while piloting a F6F-5 Hellcat fighterfrom USS Lexington (CV 16). He was commanding officer of Fighting Squadron (VF) 19, "Satan's Kittens."
From Hellcat: The F6F in World War II By Barrett Tillman:
Fighting 19's sixteen fighters were not as lucky. When the four divisions became separated from one another, small formations of Hellcats were sometimes outnumbered by as much as six to one. The Lexington pilots fought tenaciously, claiming 27 kills in the frantic, fearful minutes the battle lasted. Three Hellcats were lost, as were two pilots: VF-19's skipper, Lieutenant F. E. Cook, and the flight officer [akin to today's Operations Officer billet], Lieutenant D. K. Tripp.
From Matthew Robins '04, via email on March 6, 2019
Both [Cook and Tripp] were killed in separate incidents while flying on the same mission, a large scale fighter sweep over the island of Formosa: Tripp was last seen flying F6F-5 #58036 in a large dogfight and shortly thereafter Cook was observed to crash in F6F-5 #58565 while making a strafing pass on Taichu Airfield.
Other Information
Franklin Jr. was designated a naval aviator in 1942.
Franklin Sr. was a Navy Lieutenant and died aboard USS Ranger (CV 4) on April 30, 1938.
His mother was listed as next of kin.
Remains
It appears probable that Franklin Jr.'s body was recovered by Japanese forces and buried in a cemetery near his crash site. Following the war these remains were recovered by American Graves Registration Services personnel and designated Unknown X-213. They were later repatriated to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and currently rest in gravesite N 272 under a headstone inscribed Unknown.
At the time of his death, Franklin Jr. was 26 years old, 66" tall, and weighed 155 lbs; the remains of an unknown naval aviator recovered from Formosa and designated X-213 were estimated to be between 22-24 years old, 65.5 inches tall, and weighed 130-140 lbs. Age, weight, and especially height — Cook was one of the shortest naval aviators of WW2; his USNA commissioning physical paperwork lists him as 65.5" tall! — are all within normal error ranges. These similarities, along with matching American & Japanese eyewitness accounts that a F6F Hellcat crashed while strafing an airfield in central Formosa on October 12, 1944, supports the conclusion that X-213 is in fact LCDR Franklin E. Cook Jr, USN.
Volunteers are continuing their efforts to have Franklin Jr's remains positively identified.
Photographs
From the Lucky Bag
Distinguished Flying Cross
From Hall of Valor:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Commander Franklin E. Cook (NSN: 0-82386), United States Navy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight during World War II.
General Orders: American Battle Monuments Commission
Action Date: World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Related Articles
Donald Tripp '40 was lost in a separate action on the same flight.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
