Col. Turner Paid Tribute To Former Anderson Ace

Col. Turner Paid Tribute To Former Anderson Ace

   Col. Roscoe Turner, aviation pioneer and speedster who died recently at Indianapolis, was among noted personalities of aeronautics who paid tribute to a former Anderson pilot who died in World War II.
   The eulogy by the internationally known flier was delivered in honor of Col. H. Weir Cook, Anderson's World War I ace, who died on March 24, 1943, while landing his plane on an island in the New Caledonia group in the South Pacific. He had reentered service at the outbreak of World War II.
   Col. Turner said: "Col. Cook met his death as he would have wished to have met it — in the cockpit of a fighter plane serving his country in World War II.
   "The record of Col. Cook's service to God and country is one of unselfish devotion. He served tirelessly, faithfully, and with no expectation of reward.
   "He was of the eagle's brood. He helped America develop her wings. Behind roaring motors, up where the clouds float, he blazed a trail of America's conquest of the skyway.
   "He was of the type of American whom we all idolize — a fighter, a pioneer, a leader."
   Shortly afterward a U.S. Liberty Ship, H. Weir Cook, was launched at Richmond, Calif., and the Indianapolis municipal airport was rededicated in Cook's name, on March 28, 1944.

LIVED HERE

   Col. Cook was ten years of age when his father, the late Dr. Benjamin H. Cook, moved the family here from Wilkinson where the World War I ace was born on June 30, 1892.
   The family home was at 630 W. 12th St., where Dr. Cook also had his office before moving it to 413-17 Union (Citizens Bank) Bldg. The family later resided at 1327 Jackson St.
   Col. Cook attended the local schools and received his diploma from Anderson High School in September, 1912. He worked as a machinist at Remy Electric, later Delco-Remy, and as a designer at the old National Tile Co. plant.
   In addition to De Pauw, he attended Washington and Jefferson University before volunteering for military service in World War I.
   Credited with downing seven German planes and a number of observation balloons, he became an ace while flying with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker's famed Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron.

Anderson Daily Bulletin - Wednesday, July 1, 1970