DOB/DOD: November 26, 1920 (New London, CT) – January 1, 1943; 22 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Barbara A. Rice (1921-1999) on October 3, 1942, in Prince George, Maryland. Barbara remarried to John H. Freeman (1919-1999) in 1945.
LOCAL ADDRESS: 49 Shirley Lane, New London
ENLISTMENT: 1942
SERVICE NUMBER: Z-238553
FAMILY: Born to Harry Allen (1897-1969) and Isabel Morrow Cooke (1897-1973). One sister, Nancy B. Cooke Read Tucker (1924-1997).
CIRCUMSTANCES: SS Arthur Middleton was hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-73 and exploded within 17 minutes off the coast of Casablanca, near Oran, Algeria, during the war. 78 out of the 81 on board lost their lives.
Harry A. Cooke was born and raised in New London and is a graduate of Admiral Farragut and the New York Maritime Academy. In 1942, he applied to be an officer in the US Navy. While waiting, he enjoyed life in Boston and New York. His mother nagged him about how he was enjoying life while so many were serving their country. In frustration, he joined the Merchant Marine and went aboard the SS Arthur Middleton. His tragic death was followed by a letter in February 1943, granting admission into the US Navy as an officer. In the only letter received from him just before he sailed from New York, it was mentioned that he was put in charge of taking care of the ship’s cat. His death devastated his family for generations. [fromuboat.net]
The SS Arthur Middleton was named for Arthur Middleton (1742–1787), who was an American planter and politician from South Carolina. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was captured by British forces in Charleston in 1780 and held as a prisoner of war in St. Augustine.
The fate of German submarine U-73
U-73 found the convoy GUS-24 off Oran on December 16, 1943, and torpedoed the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship SS John S. Copley. As the damaged vessel returned to port, the destroyers USS Woolsey, USS Trippe, and USS Edison left Mers-el-Kebir to find the U-boat. She was located by sonar at 1815 hours. Hull turbulence made the U-boat’s hydrophones ineffective at the speed U-73 was leaving the area, so she was unaware of the destroyers until Woolsey’s pattern of depth charges exploded below the submarine at 1839. Sea water poured in between the bow torpedo tubes and from a salt water inlet valve for the diesel engine cooling system. All ballast tanks were blown to bring U-73 to the surface as inflowing water exceeded pumping capacity. U-73 surfaced in darkness at 1927, and men manned the heavy machine guns. The destroyers promptly detected her on radar and illuminated the submarine with searchlights. She sank by the stern following a brief exchange of gunfire. 34 of the crew were rescued by 2210. Three of Woolsey’s crew were wounded by machine gun fire, and sixteen of the U-boat crew perished.
From The Transcript-Telegram (Holyoke, MA) on December 16, 1943
There has come to The Oracle’s Christmas table this poem written by a lovely girl in her teens, to the memory of her only brother who went down with his ship in the North Atlantic last February before the German U-boats were tamed. The brother was Harry Allen Cooke, III. His commission as an Ensign in the Navy came after he had gone on his last trip with the Merchant Marine for which life service he had fitted himself in days of peace. Harry and Nancy are the children of the former Isabelle Morrow of Holyoke. Their grandfather was a leading jeweler in Holyoke for many years, and their great-grandfather brought the Farr Mills to Holyoke. There is a place in the scrapbooks of Holyokers who love brave deeds and gallant words for Nancy Cooke’s tribute to her brother:
A SERVANT OF GOD, THROUGH THE SEA
It was his life, the sea,
From boyhood he loved it.
It held a certain fascination for him,
an undefinable power;
As tho YOU were speaking to him thru it.
It was his religion,
A ship was his House of Devotion.
His prayer-book was the salty wind,
His God was in the roll of the ocean.
In him YOU sowed the seeds of its glory,
To be taught to us lesser mortals.
Its meaning not all of us realized,
Its freedom stands for the freedom of all.
He prepared for the life of a sailor
Because YOU wanted it that way.
But when Satan threatened.
And would call this sea “iniquity,”
It was his job to fight.
You gave it to him.
He had to fight for his religion,
For his right to sail his “House of Devotion,”
His right to absorb Strength from YOU.
He fought for this,
Which had meant his life to him.
Then came the day when YOU called him,
He returned to YOU, thru the sea.
Forevermore to Strengthen, and give power
By the ocean, to those who have heeded
And will heed YOUR word, thru his call.
It was an honor,
Bestowed on him by YOU,
In YOUR own way, to carry on.
He will live forever,
And “in the dreadful day of judgement
When the sea shall give up her dead”
He will walk forth beside YOU,
In Glory and in Majesty, a servant of THEE,
A servant of the Sea, as it were an Apostle
Of YOU, the LORD,
To cast away Evil,
Always.
—NANCY COOKE.
July 8, 1943.
Memorialized on the WWII memorial, Williams Park, 200 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut
Memorial headstone in Fairview Cemetery, 380 Providence Road, South Grafton, Massachusetts.
