California IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : Burial Slated From Namesake Ship

In a ceremony unprecedented in naval history, a sailor will be buried at sea off the coast of San Diego from a ship named in his honor. The remains of Lt. Cmdr. Wilmer Paul Cook will be buried at sea from the Navy frigate Cook nearly a quarter-century after the highly decorated pilot disappeared over North Vietnam. The burial is scheduled to take place Monday. A shipside memorial service at the San Diego Naval Station was attended by Cook’s two adult sons, his brother and 10 of his U.S. Naval Academy classmates. Cook, a native of Annapolis, Md., was lauded as one of the Vietnam era’s most accomplished Skyhawk jet pilots. Shot down Dec. 22, 1967, while leading an air strike, the three-time winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross was listed as missing in action until last December, when his remains were returned from Vietnam. The Cook was commissioned in 1971 and named after the missing war hero.