Memorial

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Pfc Basil M. Cook worked in a chemical plant.

He enlisted in Huntington, West Virginia on 18 November 1943.

His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hücheln, Germany, when his tank ran over a mine. The explosion is believed to have killed Cook instantaneously. His remains were not immediately recovered or identified after the fighting.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted an investigation in the Hücheln area in September 1948. Town locals were interviewed, but there were no reports of deceased American servicemembers in the area. All efforts to locate Cook proved unsuccessful at the time.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hücheln area in 2020, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-1239 Margraten, recovered from a burned-out tank one mile northeast of in Hücheln in August 1945 possibly belonged to Cook. The remains, which had been buried in Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margraten, Netherlands, were disinterred in July 2022 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Cook’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

Cook’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margarten, The Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Pfc Cook will be buried in Hinton, West Virginia, on a date to be determined (information added November 2024).