Captain Cope was the pilot of a F-86F Sabrejet fighter bomber with the 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group. On 16 September 1952, while on a combat mission five miles south of Sinuiju, North Korea in "MiG Alley", his flight of two F-86s was attacked by two flights of three MiG-15s each. His aircraft was shot down near Andung, China. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on 31 December 1953.

His remains were recovered on 13 July 2004 and was identified on 9 November2004. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Cope was awarded the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.