Pvt Otis E. Cook

Our Hometown Heroes

Otis E. Cook

Fought at Mexican Border and in France

Otis E. Cook enlisted in the U.S. Army long before the United States entered World War 1. Cook was 33 when he joined. His first assignment was to head to the Mexican border to fight Poncho Villa. General John J. Pershing was unsuccessful in the fight to capture Villa and his troops, including Cook, were called back to head to France to fight the Germans in World War 1.

Private Otis E. Cook served with the 42nd Infantry Division and was overseas for less than a year when he was killed on the battlefield on September 13, 1918. His father, W. Tillman Cook, who lived in the Orchard Hill community was notified of his son’s death. He said of his son, “He was a loveable young man.” Cook is buried overseas in the St. Mihiel American Cemetery in Thaiucourt, France.

Although Private Cook did not come home alive, a community now honors the World War I, hero. An individual plaque honoring Otis E. Cook will be installed in Griffin’s Historic District sponsored by Dr. Tom and Helen Grayson.