Cook, Bruce

Bruce Cook was born September 23, 1925 in Swansea, South Carolina. He lived a simple life on a sharecropping farm, raised by his uncle. His family name was Smith, but Bruce took on his uncle’s surname as his mother had been admitted to hospital when he was just 2 months old, and Bruce’s father sent him to those other family members. There was no electricity, plumbing or water, and they read by kerosene lamps. His first and second grades were conducted at a one-room crossroads schoolhouse while all later grades were conducted at Swansea High School. On December 7, 1941 Bruce was at the family’s service station when he heard the news about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. When he turned 18 in 1943, Bruce questioned whether he should enlist or be drafted. As he always wanted to fly P-38’s Bruce opted for the U.S. Army Air Corps, receiving basic training at Keesler Field in Biloxi. He had enrolled in the Aviation Cadet Program, but he was “washed out” of the pilot program. He still wanted to be part of an air crew so he was sent to gunnery school in Laredo, Texas. From there they completed their training in Rapid City and they were off to New York. In July 1944 Bruce transited overseas to London aboard the converted former luxury liner Queen Mary. Once there, he was assigned to the 524th Squadron, 379th bomb group of the 8th Air Force in Kimbolton. Bruce flew 35 combat missions as a B-17G Flying Fortress ball turret gunner. As such he faced the many dangers life in the 8th Air Force offered:  flak, fighters, and freezing cold temperatures. Bruce made it through his 35 missions serving aboard a number of aircraft and with different crews as he had missed several in the early going when he had pneumonia.  As was the custom when he completed those missions he went home on leave, and that’s where he happened to be on VE Day, taking in the sun at the beach at Charleston, S.C. From there Bruce was discharged and he joined the ranks of civilians, building his life in postwar America.