Sergeant Cook was a member of Battery A, 58th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. On 22 August 1951, he was en route to the 3rd Replacement Company to take rest and recuperation in Japan, when the truck he was riding in went over a cliff near Uijonbu, South Korea, killing him.

Cook was awarded 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.