Ralph Cook

Ralph Waldo Cook (Nov. 4, 1911 – March 23, 1945) was a sailor from Oneida killed during World War II.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born Nov. 4, 1911 as Ralph St. John, he was the son of Jesse Lee St. John and Georgia I. Cook. His other died in 1922, and his uncle and aunt — Allen Monterville Cook and Novella Robinson — adopted him after his father remarried in 1926.

He married Flora Easton, of Brisbane, Queensland in Australia.

World War II

Lt. Cook enlisted in the U.S. Navy on Dec. 20, 1932, and underwent basic training at Great Lakes, Ill. He later completed the Navy’s Deep Sea Diving School in Washington, D.C. and completed officer’s training in the Philippines. He served about the U.S.S. Pennsylvania from 1933 to 1938, and also served aboard the U.S.S. Holland and the U.S.S. Pigeon. He fought in the Pacific theater of World War II, assigned to the U.S.S. Chanticleer.

He was badly burned in an oxygen explosion at sea on March 22, 1945, and died the following day on the U.S.S. Howard G. Gilmore, a medical ship.

Aftermath

Lt. Cook was initially buried at the U.S. Air Force Cemetery Manila No. 1 in the Philippines, but his body was later returned stateside for burial at Knoxville National Cemetery.

He was awarded the Silver Star Citation for actions aboard the U.S.S. Pigeon, a minesweeper, during a Japanese aerial attack in the Philippines on Dec. 10, 1941, when he assisted in towing a submarine to safety.

He is listed on the Scott County Veterans Memorial in Huntsville and the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial in Knoxville.