Mereland Cook

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown native who served in the Army during the Vietnam War will be among 567 Vietnam veterans nationwide — and 28 from Ohio — to be inducted into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund In Memory Program next month in Washington, D.C.

Mereland Lee Cook Sr., who was born in 1946, will have his name added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at a dedication set for June 17. He died of cancer in 2008.

The program honors Vietnam veterans who died after returning home from the war.

Since the Vietnam War ended, thousands of Vietnam veterans have suffered due to Agent Orange exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses as a result of their service. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund believes all those who served in Vietnam should be honored and remembered for their service.

The In Memory program enables the families and friends of those who came home and later died the opportunity to have them be memorialized forever.

The VVMF will host the In Memory ceremony on the east knoll of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where each 2023 honoree’s name will be read aloud.

“For many Vietnam veterans, coming home from Vietnam was just the beginning of a whole new fight. Many never fully recovered, either physically or emotionally, from their experiences. As these veterans pass, it is our duty and solemn promise to welcome them home to the place that our nation has set aside to remember our Vietnam veterans,” said Jim Knotts, president and CEO of VVMF.

Knotts said the plaque that honors these veterans was dedicated as a part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial site in 2004.

It reads: “In Memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice.”

SON TO ATTEND

Merel Cook Jr. of Virginia Beach, Va., said he will attend the ceremony June 17 to honor his father and others.

“It has been an emotional rollercoaster when we heard the news. We are happy and ecstatic that he is being acknowledged for what he did serving his country. I remember the stories he used to tell me of his military service,” Cook said of his father.

He said while he wishes his father were still with him today, he is very appreciative of the special recognition being done to remember his father.

“We are proud of his service to his country and for him to be recognized in this way. His sacrifice to his country is what he wanted to do,” he said.

Cook said his father grew up in Youngstown through high school and later moved to Detroit, but he did return to Youngstown in the 1980s.

Mereland Lee Cook Sr. attended and graduated from North High School in Youngstown in 1966. Cook said his father shortly after graduation enlisted in the Army and served a tour in Vietnam.

Following his military career, Cook went to Detroit, where he married and had four children and later eight grandchildren.

Cook said his father used his engineering skills in Detroit, where he worked for General Motors and the Massey Ferguson Co.

His passion for working with his hands, creating and innovating, later led him to Aliquippa, Pa. where he worked for J&L Railroad.

Cook said his father moved back to Youngstown in 1986, and became a member of Donald Lockett VFW Post 6488. He died from cancer on Jan. 18, 2008, which was attributed to chemical exposure to Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam, Mereland Lee Cook Jr. said.

Cook said he remembers his father had a sense of humor that brought joy and laughter to everyone. He described his father as “a thoughtful and curious man, who loved to engage in inquisitive conversation with his children and grandchildren.”

Cook said his father left behind a legacy of teaching people how to dream while instilling in them his mantra: “I can still hear him say, ‘If I can see it, I can do it.'”

bcoupland@tribtoday.com