Just received word that the first COMNAVSECGRU, Admiral Ralph E. Cook passed away in Hawaii on 26 August 2010. He would have been 95 in December. Admiral Cook was among the early cryptographers and was evacuated from Corregidor on the last submarine to leave. He worked at Fleet Radio Unit Melbourne (FRUMEL) during WWII.
RADM Cook was CNSG when I joined. He certainly had quite a career. Sorry to hear he's gone.
ReplyDeleteFirst met him in Cheltenham when he was Capt Cook DIRNAVSECGRU in 1963/64 when we were testing the BULLSEYE Net Control hardware.
ReplyDeleteI would tell the story of the colored field mice we had where the maintenance guys would capture the mice from the bottom of the elevator shaft when we cleaned it during field day then paint them various colors and release them. Capt Cook was touring Bldg 32 one day and late in the afternoon he was walking down the passageway on the first deck and saw a red mouse come out of a crossing passageway further down. He was very excited and exclaimed “I see it!” “I see it!” You have colored mice in this building. He had caught glimpses of colored mice several times that day but thought it was his eyes playing tricks on him, He was relieved to know that we did indeed have colored mice.