Colonel Donald Cook Square

How did this site become a public square?

Colonel Donald Cook Square is a Greenstreets traffic median located directly south of historic Greenwood Cemetery. Greenstreets, a joint project of NYC Parks and the NYC Department of Transportation, began in 1986 and was revived in 1994 with the goal to convert paved street properties such as triangles and malls into green spaces.

A memorial plaza was added by volunteers from Boy Scout Troop 237 with a flagpole donated by neighbors grateful to Colonel Cook’s service. The plaza was dedicated on Fleet Week in 2012 with Marines, Sailors and officers of the U.S.S. Donald Cook in attendance.

Who is this public square named for?

Brooklyn native Colonel Donald Gilbert Cook (1934-1967) served with the Marine Corps in Vietnam where he died as a Prisoner of War. Colonel Cook attended St. Francis Xavier High School, excelling at football and earning the nickname “Bayridge Bomber.” He studied at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, where he enrolled in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), but dropped out after meeting his future wife, Laurette. In 1957, he joined the Marine Corps and trained at Quantico, Virginia. He graduated at the top of his class in Army Intelligence School.

After three years with the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Hawaii, Colonel Cook was reassigned on December 11, 1964 to the Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, Third Marine Division in Saigon, Vietnam. On New Year’s Eve he volunteered to lead a nine-man reconnaissance mission in search of a downed helicopter. He was shot and captured during a surprise enemy attack.

While a Prisoner of War, Colonel Cook firmly abided by military procedures and the Code of Conduct, refusing to provide the enemy with information about the U.S. Armed Forces. Though he received less food and was often placed in solitary confinement as a result, he gave most of his food and medicines to prisoners who were more in need.

Colonel Cook remained in this first camp until May 1965, when he was moved to a second camp which operated until October 28, 1966. During a two-week hike to a new location further in the dense jungle, he contracted malaria. After his malaria symptoms subsided, he willingly took on his sicker fellow prisoners' workloads and provided physical therapy by administering heart massages, moving limbs, and keeping men’s tongues from blocking their airway. Despite his defiant battle against his illness, he grew weak from a resurgence of malaria during a march to another P.O.W. camp., He was last seen in November 1967 and was reported dead by the Viet Cong on December 8, 1967.

On February 26, 1980, Cook was officially declared dead and a tombstone in his honor was placed in Arlington National Cemetery. President Jimmy Carter (b.1924) posthumously awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor and increased his rank from Captain to Colonel for his refusal to break the United States Code of Conduct for Prisoners of War, and the outstanding sacrifice he demonstrated towards his fellow prisoners. The Navy christened the U.S.S. Donald Cook (DDG 75) Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer on May 3, 1997, at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.