SAN ANTONIO – As an attorney in Austin, Forest Cook said he’s been to the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center before, but the next time he’s there will be unlike any other.
Cook will be presented his father’s long lost Purple Heart at a ceremony 10 a.m. Monday at the memorial outside the Justice Center, which was established by the Alamo Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
When he holds the medal in his hands for the first time in years, Cook said he’ll take a long look at the symbol of his father’s ultimate sacrifice in World War II.
“I sure will. I sure will,” Cook said during a Skype interview with KSAT from his home in Austin.
That moment will have been made possible starting with Derek Shull, the owner of an auction house. Ten years ago, Shull found the Purple Heart engraved with Charles D. Cook’s name. It was in a box stored in an abandoned storage unit in Austin.
Cook said his law firm at the time used several storage units. The medal was in one of the units he said he had forgotten about.
Realizing its great personal value, Shull said he tried, but failed, to find Cook’s family. Skip Adams, a Vietnam veteran who works for Shull, searched the internet.
In the KSAT story about their efforts, Tony Roman, commander of the local Purple Heart chapter, promised he would do whatever he could to help.
Roman said he mentioned the story to Carolyn Riojas, who is helping the group with a new Purple Heart memorial on the South Side. He said Riojas suggested using Ancestry.com, where they found Cook’s obituary in Austin. Soon after that, they contacted Cook’s son.
Cook said he was told about it soon after the 75th anniversary of his father’s death.
Wounded after D-Day, Cpl. Charles D. Cook, of Austin, returned to duty, only to be killed Dec. 1, 1944 during one of the war’s bloodiest days in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest.
Forest Cook, his only son, was born a few days later to his now-widowed mother. He said his only regret is that his mother, who had given him the medal, didn’t live to see the Purple Heart again.
Forest Cook said at one time, he took his mother to the German-Belgian border to see where her husband and thousands of other American soldiers had died.
“The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest actually began in September of ’44 and overlapped the Battle of the Bulge,” Cook said.
Much like it was then, Cook said knowing his father’s Purple Heart will be returned is “very, very meaningful and very, very touching.”
Cook said he’s grateful to everyone involved.
“I thank them from the deepest part of my heart,” he said. “They’ve really, really made my family a little more complete.”
Photo Courtesy: Forest Cook