FRANKLIN R. HOOKS II, CAPT, USMC
Franklin Hooks II '97
Lucky Bag
From the 1997 Lucky Bag:
Franklin Richard Hooks II
Dade City, Florida
Two dollar Hooker, Ice Man, gramps, Biggen, from the be-atches of Key West, came the prior with the temper of a two year old. Whatever happened to Andi Johson, Elaine, grover, the cross dresser in Oceana (“Carnal knowledge...of a lady this time”), suzy and her shrink, Terra (ironically Latin for common land), and Melissa (reg pe gear?)? Triton Light always shines on Hooker. BC game + CT = Cindy? We’ve created a monster!!! Frank could fall asleep to the sound of over 120 dB any night. Who else could hit a monitor for beating him in computer golf or doom? “But, my CHIEF SAID!!!!" “No, no, boys, there are two O's in Hooks.” Vanilla Wafers? EE?? Spyder? I-90, Wild Turkey, Detail? Prior enlisted Navy means Marine Corps Officer, of course! The long road to P-Cola.
-MAL, SVD, WTP, SDS
Franklin Richard Hooks II
Dade City, Florida
Two dollar Hooker, Ice Man, gramps, Biggen, from the be-atches of Key West, came the prior with the temper of a two year old. Whatever happened to Andi Johson, Elaine, grover, the cross dresser in Oceana (“Carnal knowledge...of a lady this time”), suzy and her shrink, Terra (ironically Latin for common land), and Melissa (reg pe gear?)? Triton Light always shines on Hooker. BC game + CT = Cindy? We’ve created a monster!!! Frank could fall asleep to the sound of over 120 dB any night. Who else could hit a monitor for beating him in computer golf or doom? “But, my CHIEF SAID!!!!" “No, no, boys, there are two O's in Hooks.” Vanilla Wafers? EE?? Spyder? I-90, Wild Turkey, Detail? Prior enlisted Navy means Marine Corps Officer, of course! The long road to P-Cola.
-MAL, SVD, WTP, SDS
Loss
Franklin was lost on June 27, 2004 when the F/A-18 Hornet he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during a training flight from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).
Obituary
From the St. Petersburg Times on June 29, 2004:
DADE CITY - He was a "supernatural kid" who dreamed of being a pilot.
And the dream came true.
Just after Franklin R. Hooks II graduated from Pasco High School in 1990, he enlisted in the Navy. Over the years he ascended steadily through the military ranks, finally becoming a Marine Corps captain.
He was doing what he loved - flying an F/A-18C Hornet aircraft from USS Harry S. Truman in the Atlantic - when an accident occurred Saturday night, the Marine Corps reported.
Authorities announced Monday that search and recovery efforts, which covered more than 250 square miles of water, had been unsuccessful.
Hooks, 32, was pronounced dead.
The jet's wreckage turned up Sunday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, about 60 miles south of the Azores, a group of nine islands belonging to Portugal.
On Monday, the Navy continued to investigate the accident, which it described as a "mishap."
The Truman had been operating a two-month training exercise in preparation for a six-month deployment scheduled to begin in the fall.
Hooks' jet was part of the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, known as the "Silver Eagles," said Marine Capt. Donald A. Caetano, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, S.C., where the squadron was stationed.
"They're going to memorialize him and take time to mourn and grieve," Caetano said. "But they're going to continue on, because he (Hooks) would want that."
According to a biography compiled by the squadron, Hooks started off as an electronics technician when he joined the Navy in 1990. Then he was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1997.
Afterward he became a Marine, completing training in Quantico, Va., Pensacola, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Meridian, Miss. Advanced training in Kingsville, Texas, earned him his naval aviator wings in September 2000, and further training in Oceana, Va., made him qualified to fly a Hornet, a single-seat, all-weather attack aircraft.
He had been stationed at Beaufort since December 2001. From December 2002 to May 2003, he flew combat missions with the "Silver Eagles," stationed aboard the Truman in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Hooks enjoyed all sports, playing his guitar and, of course, flying planes, Caetano said.
"A lot of people live their lives and never find a calling in life," Caetano said. "He was fortunate to be someone who did find his calling."
Hooks had a wife, Cindy, but no children. His wife and family could not be reached for comment Monday.
A memorial service was scheduled for today aboard the Truman, but no local plans had been announced Monday evening.
Willie Harrelson, 76, lives across the street from the house where he said Hooks' grandparents raised him.
"He was just supernatural," Harrelson said. "You could search the world over, and you wouldn't find anybody better than Frankie Hooks."
Hooks was a talented Little League baseball player, Harrelson said. Growing up, Hooks often came by to tell Harrelson, an avid hunter, about hunting escapades with his grandfather.
"They'd go to Green Swamp and hunt," Harrelson recalled Monday as he rocked on a wooden swing outside his home.
Hooks never lost that athleticism, Harrelson said. He'd see the young man stretching after a five-mile run or driving golf balls into a nearby field when he was home on leave.
Hooks always stopped in to check on Harrelson when he was in town and shook Harrelson's hand before departing again.
"The last day he was here, he said, "I'm going out on a boat,"' Harrelson said. "And he said, "I'll be back."'
Photographs
From The Tampa Tribune on June 28, 2004
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz, "In addition to graduating from Pasco Comprehensive High School in 1993, he completed a year of academic studies at Florida Keys Community College."
From The Tampa Tribune on July 21, 2004:
Franklin grew up in Dade City, where he was raised by his maternal grandparents, Mary Hooks and the late Franklin Hooks, who died in 1992. The couple adopted the boy when he was 7 years old, recalled his grandmother, who has remarried and is now Mary Hooks Linville.
At the time of the adoption, Mary Hooks was 52 and her late husband was 56. Their four children had grown, and they thought their child-rearing years were behind them.
“But that little Frankie kept me going,” she recalled. “He loved hunting, fishing and football.”
The only sport he didn’t like, she said, was baseball. “It wasn’t rough enough.”
And yet, he showed a soft spot for his grandmother. He obeyed her curfews and loved her home cooking, especially catfish, hush puppies and chocolate cake. Both of them enjoyed their talks.
“Me and him were very close,” she said.
He proved a sharp student as well, and in high school, he tutored younger students in math, she recalled.
From The Tampa Tribune on July 25, 2004:
Marine Capt. Franklin R. Hooks II was “Frankie” to friends and family here. More than 150 of them came to the Calvary Assembly of God Church on Saturday morning to remember their “Frankie” during a touching memorial service that included speeches and a slide show.
The slide show ended with a quote from Hooks. It was his frequent reply to his grandmother after she cautioned him to be careful: “Don’t worry about me. I’m having fun!”
Pastor John Chesser recalled how Hooks carried a pocket Bible in his flight suit and had political aspirations. He noted that Hooks was a “Special Olympics hugger” who worked in a New York City soup kitchen on Christmas and “was a true giver.”
The pastor had a special prayer for Cindy Hooks, his wife of two years, and noted that they met on a blind date.
“He saw her picture before that date,” Chesser said, “and said, ‘I’m going to marry that girl.’”
His aunt, Sharon Ward, sister-in-law Tonia Reva, and lifelong friend and Pasco High School Class of 1990 classmate Michelle Topping delivered speeches, and Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite presented a proclamation she read Thursday on the House floor in Washington.
He has a marker in New York.
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