Harold C. Cook was born in Beaver, Pennsylvania. His father produced milk and ice cream on his dairy farm. Cook attended high school in Warren, Ohio where he grew up. He then attended two years at Hiram College [Annotator’s Note: in Cleveland, Ohio] where he majored in biology. He was married during that time and they had a child. Knowing that he would be drafted, Cook enlisted in the Navy. He became a hospital apprentice first class. Attending boot camp at Great Lakes [Annotator’s Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, Illinois], he took additional nursing classes. After a time making beds and similar things, he accepted the opportunity to go do laboratory work in Washington, D.C. at the Naval hospital in Bethesda, Maryland [Annotator’s Note: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center] from 1942 to 1943. He took various medical courses requiring both class and laboratory training to become a lab technician. After graduation, he was assigned to Farragut, Idaho and naval training classes in New Mexico and Arizona. Subsequently, he was assigned to a ship being built at Kaiser Shipyard in San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California]. It was an attack transport, the USS Sherburne (APA-205). A trip to Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines] with a thousand troops preceded a voyage to Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa, Japan]. During the voyage, Cook performed all the lab work for the doctors. The ship was attacked at Okinawa. Disembarking a thousand troops at Manila, a voyage to San Francisco was undertaken wherein a thousand new troops were embarked. The atomic bombs were dropped during that time [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. Cook was told he could attend midshipmen’s school at Colgate University [Annotator’s Note: in Madison County, New York] in 1945. Cook decided to return to the United States and opted to be discharged. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to enroll at Ohio State University [Annotator’s Note: in Columbus, Ohio] and study food bacteriology. He received his master’s degree in that discipline. He and his family moved to Cincinnati [Annotator’s Note: Cincinnati, Ohio] in 1949 where he took a job as head of a laboratory. He worked 30 years for the health department and then took another job with the EPA [Annotator’s Note: EPA-Environmental Protection Agency] for another four years.

Harold C. Cook grew up in Warren, Ohio. He was the youngest in the family. He had a brother who was popular and active in school. Cook’s mother died of hip cancer when he was only thirteen years of age, so his sister took over the motherly duties. His sister was also a friend to Cook’s wife. The couple had another child and attended Ohio State [Annotator’s Note: Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio] together. The Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] was not quite as rough on the Cook family since they had a dairy farm and produced milk and ice cream. The family always had food and could help the poor people who did not. With Warren being a steel mill town, jobs were available for those seeking work during the war. Cook did not pay attention to the build-up of military forces across the globe. The other guys were doing the fighting at that time. On Pearl Harbor Day, 7 December 1941 [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], the family was insulated from the trauma of the attack. Cook had friends of all kinds, so consequently he was not affected by the news. That was true even when he entered college.

Harold C. Cook entered the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was offered an advanced rating if he joined the Navy. It was more appealing that being drafted into the Army. He attended boot camp and advanced laboratory training at Great Lakes [Annotator’s Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, Illinois]. After training, he boarded the Sherburne [Annotator’s Note: USS Sherburne (APA-205)] in San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California]. It was a good ship. The hull had been riveted by a West Coast shipyard as opposed to the welded hulls from the East Coast yards. Some welded hulls broke apart while underway. A ship went down after it broke. The Sherburne was an attack transport. Cook felt secure on it. The laboratory [Annotator’s Note: Cook’s duty station] was midship. With the location being next to the pharmacy, Cook learned additional things from his pharmacist friend. One thing that everyone enjoyed was an illicit elixir made with alcohol and codeine. A soldier even broke into the pharmacy and attacked the pharmacist, grabbed the elixir, and then jumped overboard and drown. The pharmacist required 24 stitches, but recovered. Cook’s ship brought the soldiers to the point of amphibious attack. After deploying the troops, the APA would stand offshore to take on casualties, then the transport would return to the United States to take on additional troops. Cook and his crew mates did not know how close they were to Japan. Okinawa was only 70 miles from the mainland. When they reached Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Eniwetok or Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands], they heard of the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], but did not know what it was. The Sherburne returned to the States after a 45-day voyage. Cook was happy to return home after nearly three years in the service. He was discharged in Ohio as pharmacist’s mate second class. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] for his bachelor and master’s degrees at Ohio State University [Annotator’s Note: in Columbus, Ohio].

Harold C. Cook felt he was only a part of the war when he served. They liked to make jokes about MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area]. Cook never really understood the very small part he played in the war. He fought in the war because he had to do so. He had no alternative but to go into the Army or the Navy. The Navy helped him a lot with education and learning things along the way. World War Two was his life at the time. He volunteered because he had to. The experience and people enriched his life. Friendships and training classes were good. He was fortunate. He is overwhelmed with the reaction of people showing their appreciation for his service. Cook did not do anything particularly honorable to deserve those accolades. He merely did his duty during those years. The Second World War changed all of America, those who were in it or those who had family or friends who died in it. The World War Two institutions should continue to teach young people about the war. It is important that they know how the conflict affected all people overseas and at home. It was a time without things that are taken for granted today. The whole world was involved in the conflict.