Remains of Georgetown WWII Pilot Identified After 82 Years, Coming Home

More than 80 years after a World War II pilot from Georgetown was killed in action in Burma in 1943, his remains have been identified.

First Lt. Charles "Woody" McCook, who was interred in a grave with other unknown soldiers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, will be buried this weekend in his hometown near his parents.

VFW Post 8587 in Georgetown is coordinating a community-wide procession and memorial event to welcome McCook home on Saturday, Aug. 2 in partnership with the city of Georgetown, Southwestern University, Gabriels Funeral Home, the Georgetown Police Department and various veteran groups.

John McCleskey, the senior vice commander of the VFW post, said McCook is to his knowledge the last known missing-in-action veteran to be identified from Georgetown.

"I know the importance of identifying these people to bring closure to the families," said McCleskey. "It brings a shiver down my spine that after 82 years we are able to bring this young man home."

Scientists analyzed DNA to help identify McCook on April 18, according to a news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. McCook's nephew, John McCook Jr. of Louisiana said in a phone interview that authorities took a swab from his cheek to get a DNA sample but it took a few years to get results.

"I think it's wonderful that they identified him," said his nephew. "I wasn't really expecting anything like that."

McCook said he was born after his uncle was killed but he learned about him from his late father, who was Woody McCook's brother.

Woody McCook grew up in Georgetown, was a graduate of Southwestern University and loved to joke around, said John McCook. He had two brothers and was the son of Isaac McCook, who was the senior financial vice president of Southwestern University, and Mayme Lee McCook, a homemaker. He joined the Army Air Corps during World War II because he wanted to serve his country, John McCook said. During the war he was a member of the 22nd Bombardment Squadron, the 341st Bombardment Group and the 10th Air Force, according to the defense agency.

While flying a B-25C Mitchell bomber on a low-altitude bombing raid in Meiktila, Burma, on Aug. 3, 1943, Woody McCook was killed in a crash along with three other crew members, the release said. It said there were two survivors who were captured by Japanese forces.

McCook's remains were not recovered and he was declared missing in action at the time, according to the release. But in 1947, the American Grave Registration Service recovered four sets of remains, including those later identified as McCook's, from a common grave near the village of Kyunpobin, Burma, the release said. The remains were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

John Boyd, one of the plane crash survivors, visited McCook's parents after he was released from a Japanese POW camp, said John McCook. Boyd, who has since died, said their bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire and caught fire, said John McCook. While the plane was burning, Woody McCook flew it higher so that the two survivors could bail out, according to Boyd. John McCook said his father and grandparents were glad that Boyd talked to them about what happened.

"We’ve always though that was a wonderful thing for him to do," said McCook.

John McCook's sister, Diane Benefiel of Houston, said her father and her grandparents didn't talk much about Woody McCook, but a photo of him was hanging in her grandparents' home. She said she once asked her grandmother what it was like to have a son missing in action for so long.

"She said it was the not knowing that was really hard," said Benefiel.

She also said she once asked her father if he missed his brother.

"He got very solemn and almost tearful and said, 'Yes of course,'" she said. She said Woody McCook's family was known as the "Flying McCooks" because Woody and both his brothers, who also served in World War II, liked flying planes.

Woody McCook will be buried with full military honors led by the U.S. Army at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 2 at the IOOF Cemetery at 1117 E. Seventh St. in Georgetown.

Up to 100 motorcycle riders will participate in a procession from VFW Post 8587 at 1000 N. College St. to the IOOF Cemetery. The procession will travel through the courthouse square and Southwestern University.

People are encouraged to line the streets to watch the procession. VFW Post 8587 plans to hand out 500 American flags to transform the route into a "Sea of Red, White and Blue," according to a news release from McCleskey.

The Georgetown Rotary Club Field of Honor Committee will display 82 full-size American flags along Texas 29 — one for each year McCook has been missing. The Falcon Formation Team will conduct a Missing Man Formation flyover followed by a flyover of a B-25 bomber from the CAF Devil Dog Squadron, which will happen after the playing of taps and a 21-gun salute at the burial service.

John McCook and Benefiel said they both plan to be at the ceremony.

"It's really wonderful," said McCook. "We weren't expecting anything like this. Nobody in Georgetown now knew my uncle Woody and his family. It's really a nice thing to be doing for us."