Found remains of WWII vet to be buried in Oakland

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A World War II airman whose remains were found more than 60 years after he was shot down over Germany will finally be laid to rest.

A burial with full military honors for Lt. William "Billy" Cook is set for Sunday at a cemetery in Oakland.

The 27-year-old airman and his five-man crew were on a Dec. 23, 1944, mission when they were shot down over Germany.

FULL short story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141026/us-wwii-veteran-burial-d079b01ff0.html

---

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Welcome home, Lt.

[MADem]

2. Wonder if he has family still living...a wife, kids?

Amazing that his remains were there for so long before anyone found them.

[Brother Buzz]

8. No, the closet living relative is a nephew....

born eight year after Lieutenant Cook died. The nephew, Bruce Cook, provided photographs of his uncle used in another story:


William Parker Cook of Alameda married Jean Swanson before he set off to fight in World War II.


Lt. William Parker Cook of Alameda was killed in 1944.

[GGJohn]

3. Welcome home brave warrior, I salute you for your bravery.

Did anyone here see Betty White star in the movie The Lost Valentine?
Kinda follows this story, very heart wrenching.

[mountain grammy]

4. Welcome home soldier.

[irisblue]

5. Welcome home Lt Cook.

[secondvariety]

6. Welcome home

Lt. Cook.

Thanks for posting, Steve. Here's another article;

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Recovered-Bay-Area-WWII-airman-s-remains-to-be-5833654.php#photo-7015259

[riversedge]

7. "amateur historians found the crash site near the Germany-Belgium border".

umm.. must really have been in a secluded area.

RIPsoldier


.... The 27-year-old airman and his five-man crew were on a Dec. 23, 1944, mission when they were shot down over Germany.

The crew and their bomber were not recovered until two years ago, when amateur historians found the crash site near the Germany-Belgium border.

An excavation of the site led to the identification of remains belonging to Cook.

He grew up in San Francisco and Alameda, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

[Blue_Tires]

9. I did a story years ago about a U.S. fighter pilot's remains discovered in Germany

His plane crashed into a building in some village -- The only reason he was "discovered" was because they were tearing down the building which had been built over the crash site...

As Europe was cleaning up and rebuilding devastated towns after the war (and heavy moving equipment/manpower was scarce), it was nothing at that time to just dig a big hole, fill it up with war debris and cover it up...This was also one the preferred quick-and-dirty methods for filling in the millions of huge craters left by bombs, artillery, plane crashes, etc.

[riversedge]

10. umm.. never knew that--although

in the rural area where I used to live--they did that with farm equipment, junk etc now that I recall. Don't know if there is a law against this-then or now. (know oil and that sort need to be taken to special place). Also, many sell the steel and iron now for scrape.