Charley Cook, 107; Served Aboard Navy Cruiser in World War I
Charley Newton Cook, 107, one of Alabama’s two surviving World War I veterans, died Saturday in Scottsboro, Ala.
Cook spent his last week in bed at a nursing home -- a stark change for a man who marched in Veterans Day parades and drove himself around town until the age of 99, said his son Dennis.
Cook served on a Navy cruiser that guarded the first troops to cross the Atlantic Ocean for France, making three trips there in all.
After he was discharged in 1918, Cook returned to Alabama and worked on the family farm growing cotton, corn and grain.
A native of Hollywood, Ala., Cook was one of 84,000 Alabama soldiers and sailors who served in World War I. Robert Weatherly, 104, of Birmingham is the state’s remaining WWI veteran.
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