WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Basil M. Cook, 31, of Hinton, West Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted for September 6, 2024.
In November 1944, Cook was assigned to Company H, 3rd Battalion, 32nd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division, as the driver of an M4 Sherman tank. 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, 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.
Cook will be buried in Hinton, West Virginia, on a date to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary-Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, and find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Cook’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001hUIXuEAO.