The First Marine Captured in Vietnam: A Biography of Donald G. Cook [LARGE PRINT] [Large Print]

by Donald L. Price

Colonel Donald Gilbert Cook was the first U.S. Marine captured in Vietnam, the first and only Marine in history to earn the Medal of Honor while in captivity; and the first Marine POW to have a U.S. Navy ship named in his honor, the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75). On December 31, 1964, while serving as an observer with a South Vietnamese Marine Corps battalion on a combat operation against Viet Cong forces, he was captured near the village of...

• Format: Paperback
• Large Print: Yes
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078644116X
• ISBN13: 9780786441167
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Length: 482 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.9" x 9.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Searching for Heros

As a civilian, I don't often relate to military heros. In this book, I truly connected with Donald Cook through his story. He was an ordinary family man whose faith, family values and training made him an extraordinary human being who is an inspiring example for us all. Having the pleasure of meeting his sister Irene, gave me the opportunity to know Donald Cook better. He is a true hero who can inspire strength in the face of everyday fears. The book details his philosophy of living through his relationships with his friends and his enemies, giving us important insights into the mind of a man who lived and died with conviction.

Inspirational

My great uncle (Charles Crafts) owes Mr. Cook his life. This book was the first time that I was ever able to really appreciate at even a fractional level the turmoil and pain that these men endured. Their hope, spirit and patriotism is told in a compelling and inspirational way that I have found hard to find in my Non-fictional works. This book will leave you with tears and some laughs, and a greater respect for what our serving men and women have endured to ensure that our freedom is always safe.

Courage in the jungle

Long before the names and battles of Khe Sanh, Hue City, and Firebase Gloria were seared into America's consciousness, there were Marines and soldiers fighting, dying - and being captured - in Vietnam. First-time author Donald Price's brings back the terror and heartache of these times. Price's thoroughly-researched biography of Marine Col. Donald Cook blends the story of Cook's wounding and capture in December 1964 through his December 1967 death with interviews from several of the POW's imprisoned with him as well as the equally courageous story of his wife Laurette and her four small children. An advisor to the South Vietnamese Marines, Capt Cook was the first Marine captured by the Viet Cong. Unlike the American aviators shot down over North Vietnam and interned at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, Marines and soldiers captured in the south were normally locked inside small bamboo cages in small camps throughout the Mekong Delta. As opposed to the systematic and calculated isolated torture of Sen John McCain, Adm Jerimiah Denton, and others, life in the south consisted of slow starvation, disease, and simply trying to survive in an extremely harsh environment. Author Price - himself a highly decorated Marine officer from the Vietnam era - details the abject misery endured by Cook and his fellow captives. Given only starvation rations by disinterested guards who also withheld the few medicines to which they might have access, often made dying easier than attempting to survive another day. But drawing on his strength as a Roman Catholic and a Marine officer, Cook took charge of the other POW's in the camp, and did his best to give them the hope to stay alive. Through his three years of captivity, his family received only one letter from him. Her major source of comfort came from the Marine Corps, as then-commandant Gen Wallace Greene, Jr. contacted her personally and ensured she and her children were cared for to the best of the Marine Corps ability - indeed, they continued to receive the benefits commensurate with her husband's rank, as he was promoted twice `in absentia." Col Donald Cook is the only Marine ever to receive the Medal of Honor while being held prisoner of war, and Col Donald Price has written a story of honor - courage - commitment that encompasses the entire Cook family. Highly recommended !

A Bad Dream?

Despite the ultimate fate of Don Cook known from the outset of the book, oddly I found myself "cheering" for his survival while a POW as if the story of his life was just a bad dream with a happy ending afterall. This is a masterful biography ripe for a movie.

A masterpiece among author-researched POW/MIA histories

Retired USMC Colonel Don Price's first book is a masterpiece of research into the life and mysterious death of Marine Colonel Donald Gilbert Cook. He was the first Marine to be captured by the Viet Cong in combat in South Vietnam, and was the only Marine ever awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism while a Prisoner of War. In his honor, the Navy launched the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG75) which maintains a motto of "Faith Without Fear" - an appropriate summation of Donald Cook's philosophy of living. Don Price masterfully portrays the misery and privations of Viet Cong jungle captivity. Slow starvation rations and deliberate withholding of medicines to combat jungle diseases made dying easier than attempting to survive another day in such hellish conditions. Two of Captain Cook's fellow prisoners were executed by their Viet Cong captors, and another died from the effects of malnutrition, kidney failure, and pneumonia. All the while, Captain Cook gave hope and inspiration to his fellow prisoners to keep alive, and selflessly gave up his meager rations to help his men survive another day. Over the years, released American prisoners had recommended Cook for the Medal of Honor for his heroism and untiring inspiration to keep them alive. President Carter approved the recommendation, but then declined to take fifteen minutes to present our nation's highest award for valor to the Cook family at a White House ceremony. Instead, a small but dignified ceremony was presided over by then Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Edward Hidalgo, at the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes on May 16, 1980. This book is a terrific read, and strongly recommended for the USMC Commandant's Reading List. Additionally it is an inspiring story for all who serve in uniform as to the responsibilities of leadership in combat, and if captured to uphold every tenet of the Code of Conduct. It is one of the top three masterpieces of Vietnam POW/MIA histories in this reviewer's opinion.