Remains Returned 21 June 1988, ID Announced 28 September 1989

Rank/Branch: O4/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 155, USS CORAL SEA (CVA-43)
Date of Birth: 01 October 1932
Home City of Record: Annapolis MD
Date of Loss: 22 December 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 182801N 1055129E (WF906419)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Compiled: 15 March 1990
REMARKS:
The McDonnell Douglas A4 Skyhawk was intended to provide the Navy and Marine Corps with an inexpensive, lightweight attack and ground support aircraft. The design emphasized low-speed control and stability during take-off and landing, as well as strength enough for catapult launch and carrier landings. The plane was so compact that it did not need folding wings for aboardship storage and
handling.

LCdr. Wilmer P. Cook was the pilot of an A4E from Attack Squadron 155 on board the USS CORAL SEA. On December 22, 1967, LCdr. Cook launched from the carrier on a combat mission over North Vietnam. His was the only aircraft assigned to the mission.

According to the U.S. Navy, because  no other aircraft accompanied LCdr. Cook that day, it is not known exactly what happened to him on that day. LCdr. Cook was lost, but no details are available. He was classified Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered, even though no information explaining this determination is included in public records available from the U.S. Navy. The last known position
of Cook and his aircraft was over Ha Tinh Province, approximately 20 miles southeast of the city of Vinh.

(NOTE: In a second U.S. Navy summary of this incident, Cook's aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed north, northwest of Ha Tinh, Nghe Tinh, Province Vietnam, and "the other crewmember of another aircraft observed the aircraft crash.Search and rescue helicopter was driven away by small arms fire.")

The Defense Intelligence Agency further expanded the classification of Killed in Action by adding an enemy knowledge factor indicator of 2. Category 2 was generally applied to cases in which personnel were "lost in areas or under such conditions that they may reasonably be expected to be known by the enemy", of "identified through analysis of all-source intelligence."
Cook's family waited for the war to end. They understood that the possibility existed that their men might have been captured. Even though they did not hear from them, they knew that many were