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| Lt. Harry Cook was a B-17 pilot in the 303rd Bombardment Group. http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/229.pdf |
Harry Stewart Cook never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 25, 1917 in Michigan. His parents Harry and Rose were also both born in Michigan. His father worked as a bookkeeper and ticket agent for the Lake Transportation Company and later as a coal salesman. Still later he worked as a claim agent. Harry had three older brothers and an older sister. By 1940 Harry was still living at home. He had completed two years of college and on the 1940 census indicated his occupation was coat department or perhaps coal department.
He enlisted in the army on February 19, 1941. I don't know when he became part of the Army Air Forces and attended flight training school.
He was a first lieutenant and pilot in the 427th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. The 303rd BG was one of the first heavy bomber units put into action in Europe, arriving in November 1942. Lt. Cook was probably not part of the 303rd until much later. Like all bomber groups in 1942-1943, the loss rate in the 303rd was significant. It was in continuous need of new crews to replace the ones lost on nearly a daily basis.
On August 15, 1944 Lt. Cook was piloting the Tiny Angel. It took part in the 303rd BG's 229th mission of the war. The target was an airfield in Wiesbaden, Germany. It would prove to be the most costly 303rd BG mission since 11 planes were lost in January 1944. The 39 planes made it safely to the target and survived moderate to intense flak fire (three men were killed and 11 returned planes had flak damage). On the leg back, friendly fighters were not present and the bomber formation was attacked by up to 25 German fighters flying from out of the sun. The Germans concentrated on the bottom group of bombers and shot down 9, including Tiny Angel. Three men on Tiny Angel were killed, including Lt. Cook who remained at the controls to allow the others to jump out. The others became prisoners of war.
His grave is at Mona View Cemetery in Muskegon Heights, Michigan.
UPDATE: After this profile was written, I was provided a copy of a detailed article about another airman on this plane, Joseph M. Slight, by the article's author, Dave Bernard. For a pdf copy of this excellent article, email ww2fallen100@gmail.com.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
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