Cook, serving in Iraq since November, was killed on his June 6 birthday during a rocket attack on his military base in Baghdad.
AGAWAM - U.S. Army Spc. Michael Benjamin Cook Jr., one of five soldiers killed in action in Iraq earlier this month, was laid to rest here Monday at the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
The 27-year-old Cook, who has family ties to West Springfield, was born in Lowell and graduated from high school in Salem, N.H. in 2003.
The Union Leader reported that Cook, serving in Iraq since November, was killed on his June 6 birthday during a rocket attack on his military base in Baghdad. The attack is considered the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Iraq in two years.
“No one wants peace more than the young soldiers on the front line on the battlefield,” said the Rev. Kenneth J. Tatro, pastor St. Thomas Church in West Springfield. “Michael worked hard for that peace, it cost him his life.”
Cook, who leaves behind a wife, Samantha Mitchell-Cook and their two young children, entered the army in Oct. 2009 and was assigned tot the 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in fort Riley Kansas.
“I could never ask for a better battle buddy,” said fellow unit member Spc. Brandon Richardson, who told mourners that Cook would want them to celebrate his life.
Other speakers at the service included Brig. Gen. John J. McGuiness, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command and Senior Commander of the Natick Soldiers System Center in Natick.
“We will never forget Michael’s service,” McGuiness said. “We will continue to honor him as an American hero and Mike is an American hero.”
During his service, Cook was awarded both a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. “I think that shows that Mike was true warrior,” McGuiness said of the Bronze Star.
McGuiness read a tribute, written by Pfc. Marquis Davis, who served with Cook. “As a soldier, Spc. Cook was an excellent battle buddy, There was never a time when he wasn’t ready to help.”
Davis went on to say in his tribute that Cook was always there for him. “He would always tell me, ‘Hey man, just think of it this way, we are almost home.”
In his tribute, Davis said that Cook’s favorite super hero was Captain America. “He even planned to get a tattoo of Captain America’s shield on him to signify that he, like Captain America, was indestructible.”
McGuiness touched on Davis’s message in his parting message to Cook’s family. “May the hand of God reach down to guide you in the days ahead and may you continue to grieve Captain America,” he said.
Services for Cook continued inside the chapel on the grounds of the Agawam veterans cemetery.
Ryan Kelliher of Toomey-O’Brien Funeral Home in West Springfield, said that Mitchell-Cook’s family is related to the late Larry F. Frenette of West Springfield.
Frenette, a decorated World War II veteran and past commander of the American Legion Post 207, died in 2005.
Cook’s funeral procession was accompanied by some 50 members of the Patriot Guard Riders. Members of national group, displaying a phalanx of American flags, stood watch outside both the West Springfield church and Agawam chapel has the services were conducted.
Springfield resident Clarence “Bix” Belden, said family members has asked the Patiot Guard Riders to attend.
Belden said many of the Patriot Guard riders are Vietnam veterans who received little if no recognition, and in some cases scorn, when they returned home. “That’s not going to happen again,” he said.