Memorial Day 2012, Remembering Jimmy Cook

Taking time this Memorial Day to do something my family has never done:  collecting as many photos of my father, James Cook, from his time serving in the Korean War as we can find.  We always use this day to honor the sacrifices our veterans made for us, but from my end, I've never taken the time to pull together my father's photos, both from overseas as well as stateside.  So, here's a first effort at trying to rectify that oversight.

For those who don't know, my father faked his age when he was 15 to join the Merchant Marines after his brother and hero Gerald, was killed in Germany in 1944.  The military found out his real age, though, and sent him home.  He re-enlisted, though a few years later, for the Korean Conflict, and went overseas to serve just after marrying my mother in 1951.  Funny thing is, he never talked too, too much about his experiences during the Conflict.  He spoke sparingly of certain incidents, but never with great detail.

Unfortunately, there's not many markings on the photos, so it's hard to place them with a location, but these were taken just after he married my mother, Marie.  He was deployed less than two months after their wedding.

From the date on this photo taken in Korea, apparently my dad spent some time working the film projector in August of 1952.  Looks just like a M*A*S*H unit, doesn't it?

From the same day, that's my dad on the left

Must have been a camera in camp that day

 That's him in the middle, apparently at parade rest 

 That's my dad on the left with a pipe in his mouth

Don't know much about this series of photos taken in Korea, but if they were busy digging foxholes, at least it looks like they were having a good time of it

My dad on the left - he would have been 23 in this picture

 

While overseas, my father continued with his passion for boxing, and specifically, training.  He trained boxers in Korea, and here, sits at a desk with the Boxing designation on his inbox.  Might be the ONLY desk job my father ever held

 Writing home, no doubt, to my mother

No, your eyes aren't failing you, it's a hazy photograph of my father and mother

 That's him on the right, have no idea who's he with

 In the foreground, another shot from Korea nearly 60 years ago

And finally, I just don't know what the heck this picture is all about.  As far as I know, my father never played a guitar in his life.  Though if he did, that might explain where his daughter, and three grandsons' penchants for guitar-playing comes from.

So that's it for this round, I'm going to see what I can do about rounding up another batch of photos from various albums scattered around the area for future blog posts.
Once again, appecation to all of the men and women who served our country, and for me personally, a special thank you to my dad.