World War II Honoree

Jennings Bryan Cook

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Hollydale, California

Honored By

Gina Georgianna

Relationship

Niece

During WWII, he was in the Navy and on the USS Ormsby ship, which did a tour in the Pacific. Their first stop was Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. The Marines were onshore and the Navy not far off shore. Two Marine officers were in trouble and his commanding officer asked him to row ashore and rescue them. Just as he reached them, they were all hit by a mortar. The two officers were killed instantly and he was wounded when a large piece of shrapnel entered into his thigh. It was 10 days before they returned to the hospital at Pearl Harbor, and by that time, the wound had begun repairing itself. They didn’t want to go back in to take out the metal. He was in the hospital for a month. As soon as he recovered he rejoined his ship and was present and part of the beach party for invasions at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands; Aitape, New Guinea; Guam, Mariana Islands; Peleliu, Palau Islands; and Leyte, Philippine Islands. When they were in Leyte, his commanding officer told him that a 'bunch of old guys' were getting off a boat, that the boat was rocking, and that he needed to go help them get off. So when the door of the vessel opened, off jumped a photographer. He reached out to help the next man out and the man pushed him in the water. It was General MacArthur. He was honored with a purple heart that was pinned on him by Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander in chief of the Pacific fleet.