Memorial

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1st Lt Floyd R. Cook attended high school for 4 years. He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Chicago, Illinois on 8 April 1942.

The aircraft was badly damaged by flak near Maldegem, Belgium. The number four engine caught fire, the pilot dumped the bombs and peeled and headed for the coast but all the crew were forced to bail out. The aircraft crashed at 1750 hrs. There crew members were 3 killed and 7 survived and were taken prisoner. The three casualties apparently delayed their jump too long.

The airplane came down in a field, just 30 meters behind a row of houses that are situated in de Pannebekestraat 43 to 49. At the time these houses were situated on the edge of a densely populated residential area. On 3 July 2004 a memorial plaque was inaugurated that is placed on the wall of house n° 49 at the intersection with the Sint-Jozefstraat.

According to the pilot, Robert Brown, Lt Cook refused to jump when he was given the signal. He wanted to try to keep the plane under control. When a part of the right wing broke off, this wasn't possible anymore. At that moment he bailed out but it was too close to the ground so his parachute didn't open. Lt Cook fell through the roof of the kitchen of the house in the Pannebekestraat nr. 62 and was killed instantly.

Lt Cook is also remembered at the Jeffers Cemetery in Jeffers, Cottonwood County, Minnesota.