Cook, Donald Gilbert
Marines Colonel

Donald Gilbert Cook from New York City, New York, New York City county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, December 31, 1964
Death details: Captain Donald Gilbert Cook entered the U.S. Marine Corps from New York and served in Headquarters Company, 3rd Marine Division. On December 31, 1964, he was an advisor to the 4th Vietnamese Marine Corps Battalion when it participated in an operation near Binh Gia, Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. That day, the unit encountered Viet Cong elements in the vicinity of (GC) YS 500 770 and in the ensuing firefight Capt Cook was wounded and captured. Members of the Vietnamese Marine unit saw Capt Cook carried away by Viet Cong troops and his circumstances that followed are unknown. In December 1970, a prisoner released back to U.S. custody reported that Capt Cook died of malaria on December 8, 1967. Attempts to recover Capt Cook’s remains have been unsuccessful. Following his loss, the Marine Corps posthumously promoted Capt Cook to the rank of Colonel (Col). Today, Colonel Cook is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency