USNA Class of 21 jacket: medical retirement, USNA faculty, WWII recall

[Bob Hudson]

This was purchased many years ago at an  estate sale in Norfolk by a now retired Navy officer and his wife. I got it from them. They did some research and found three Naval Academy grads with the name AB COOK, as written in the jacket. Luckily they remembered the street name where the sale was held and a Google search turned up a Cook family - a Navy family - living in the historic waterfront Tazewell house on Norfolk's Powhatan Ave. That pinpointed this owner as Allen Blow Cook, born in 1900, graduated from the Academy in 1921. A medical disability forced him to retire in 1926 as a Lt JG. He had almost six years of sea service including the Oklahoma and USS Sturtevant (DD-240). He later got a masters  from the University of Virginia and joined the faculty at the Naval Academy. In 1942, he was called to active duty and retired in 1947 with the rank of commander. He returned to the Naval Academy faculty as an English professor, and also wrote books and plays and directed theatrical productions. He died in 1971 and was buried in Arlington, alongside his father Cmdr. Allen Merriam Cook.

 

I have seen this before with pre-WWII Naval officers: medical discharge, called to active duty during the war - in Cdr Cook's case recalled after 16 years - and back to retirement at higher rank at war's end. There must have been a lot of that during WWII. 

 

I found a bad copy of his Lucky Bag listing and it appears he's wearing this jacket:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

...

[Bob Hudson]

Here's his family's 1700's home on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk. The jacket was sold at an estate sale there. 

 

 

 

[manayunkman]

An interesting story.

 

Wonder what happened to the family?

[Bob Hudson]

8 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

An interesting story.

 

Wonder what happened to the family?

 

Some of that and some of the family's over 200 years history in Virginia are shown here:

 

https://www.lib.odu.edu/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=35&q=&rootcontentid=130720

[manayunkman]

Interesting history.

[Military_Curator]

Great to see a local guy! Nice uniform!

 

Parks

[T1gertank519]

Very interesting uniform! I am happy I stumbled upon this thread, even if I was a year too late. 👍 

[Bob Hudson]

19 minutes ago, T1gertank519 said:

even if I was a year too late

 

Actually it was just posted a couple weeks ago.

[Bob Hudson]

On 2/28/2021 at 12:59 PM, Military_Curator said:

Great to see a local guy!

 

Having gone to school in Virgina Beach and Norfolk, I'm pleased to report it's back in Norfolk now after being here in California for several decades.