US Air Force Lt. Berdel Alfred Cook was born in Stamford, Connecticut on May 25, 1923, the son of Berdel James Cook (1900-1978) and Hazel A. J. Ohlson (1902-1993). His father had spent his life supporting his family as a mechanic using his skills for a railway.
After high school, Alfred attended Duke University before enlisting in the US Navy flight program on October 23, 1942, during WWII. He was commissioned in Corpus Christi and became a flight instructor at NAS Pensacola. He was stationed here for thirty-months where he met a young Pensacola girl. Mary Louise Smith was born in New Orleans and grew up in Pensacola. She was the daughter of Elisha Phillips and Marie Hildred Anderson Smith of 1190 E. Brainard Street and would graduate from Pensacola High School in 1944 and attend the University of Alabama. She and Alfred were married in Pensacola on April 15, 1950, as he continued with his naval career. He was finally transferred for duty in San Diego before his new orders to VP-9 Squadron out of NAS Adak, Alaska came through.
On August 31, 1951, in the midst of the Korean War, he took off from Adak on a routine anti-submarine patrol flight with a low cloud ceiling and a fog limiting visibility to two miles. When he failed to report in, a search was initiated and wreckage was found at the 800-ft level on a mountain on the northwest side of Little Tanaga Island, about 16 miles ESE of Adak. There was no evidence to indicate either engine or structural failure. The pilot was overheard by the only survivor to say that he was going to turn and climb just prior to the crash. The investigative board felt the pilot tried to remain below the overcast and proceed through Little Tanaga Strait with the aid of radar pilotage. It is assumed the pilot then decided to turn into a clear area and climb to a safe altitude but lacked sufficient space to complete the maneuver and collided with the mountain.
Mary Louise was notified of his death and preparations were made for his burial in the Woodland Cemetery in Stamford, CT, the home of his parents. Mary would remarry in 1958 to Reverend Robert N. Lockard (former US Navy Chaplain with the 5th Marine Regiment in Vietnam with a Bronze Star). She would pass away on October 27, 2018.
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