IOWANS FREED.
News has been received of the following Iowans who have been liberated from German prison camps:
AMES—Mr. and Mrs. Ray Cook have been informed that their son, Second Lt. Ray Cook jr., has been freed from a German prison camp. He was a co-pilot on a B-17 bomber and was shot down over Berlin last Dec. 5.
MILFORD—Edwin Winker, son of Mrs. Kate Winker, has wired from New York that he will be home soon. He had been a prisoner of the Germans since the battle for Metz last fall.
OKOBOJI—Merwin Thompson, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Thompson, arrived home Wednesday. He had been a German prisoner since his capture in the African campaign.
Source: Des Moines Tribune, June 15, 1945
Ray Leslie Cook, Jr. was born Apr. 26. 1923 to Ray (Sr.) and Grace Mabel Mayo Cook. He died Mar. 22, 1996 and is buried in Ames Municipal Cemetery, Ames, IA.
Lt. Cook served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 305th Bomb Group in England. He became MIA and was a POW in Stalag No. 1 near Barth, Germany. He was awarded the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters.
Source: ancestry.com
