Pvt. Robert G. Cookman, formerly of Mason City, has reported to Kansas State college at Manhattan, Kans., for a course of army air force instruction which will last about five months. He will then be appointed as an aviation cadet in the army air force. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Cookman, of Long Beach, Cal.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Friday, March 19, 1943, Page 8
Service News
One hundred and thirty-one men from Iowa are in the latest class of pre-flight aviation cadets to start training at San Antonia, Tex. From Mason City was Robert G. Cookman.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Tuesday, July 13, 1943, Page 12
KHAKI and BLUE
Whereabouts
Aviation Cadet Robert G. Cookman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. (sic) Cookman, formerly of Mason City, reported for duty last week at Frederick army air field, Okla., twin-engine school for combat pilots, for the final 9 weeks of training in the army air forces pilot training course.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Tuesday, December 21, 1943, Page 12
KHAKI and BLUE
Graduated From Pilot School
Second Lt. Robert G. Cookman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey A. Cookman, 204 Crescent drive, was a member of the 17th and largest class of B-24, liberator bomber pilots to graduate from the AAF pilot school at Fort Worth, Tex., according to word received from the air field there. The 9 weeks course includes all phases of servicing and flying the liberators. Lt. Cookman will either become a flight instructor or be sent to a tactical school for a final phase of pre-combat training. He received his commission in February at Frederick field, Tex.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Wednesday, April 26, 1944, Page 8 (photo included)
Lt. R. G. Cookman Killed
in Action Over Italy
Was Pilot on B-24 Liberator;
Overseas But a Short Time
Second Lt. Robert G. Cookman, was killed in action over Italy on Oct. 23, according to a telegram received by his wife, the former Marianne Stafford, who lives with her parents, Mrs. and Mrs. Roy Thomas, 204 North Crescent drive. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Cookman, now living at Long Beach, Cal.
Lt. Cookman had been overseas but a short time and at last reports had been on 3 missions. He was a pilot on a B-24 Liberator bomber. He was commissioned last February at Frederick air field, Tex., and in April was graduated from the AAF pilot school at Fort Worth, Tex.
Besides his wife and parents Lt. Cookman is survived by 2 sisters and a brother, all at Long Beach.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Tuesday, November 07, 1944, Page 11
Posthumous Award to Lt. Coookman
Fifteenth AAF in Italy – Second Lt. Robert G. Cookman, 254 Crescent drive, Mason City, Iowa, pilot of a 15th air force B-24 Liberator bomber, reported killed in action by the war department, has been awarded the air medal posthumously for “meritorious achievement in aerial flight while participating in sustained operational activities against the enemy.”
Lt. Cookman had participated in major attacks against such strategic targets as the Vienna Osterreichlsche Motor works, Austria, the Milan Breda works, Italy; and other important targets in Austria, Germany, Italy and Hungary. He was killed when he was forced to bail out of his plane on Oct. 23, 1944.
Before entering the army on Feb. 1, 1943, Lt. Cookman attended Mason City junior college. He was commissioned at Frederick, Okla., on Feb. 8, 1944.
His wife, Mrs. Marianne Cookman, lives at the Mason City, Iowa, address.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Monday, January 29, 1945, Page 10
Robert Grant Cookman was born Sept. 8, 1920 to Harvey A. and Pearl Wilson Cookman. He died Oct. 23, 1944 in Italy. He has a cenotaph in Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
