Bob Cook grew up on a farm in Sherman County, Kansas, during the Depression. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, 'On Monday morning, I was in high school and everybody went to the auditorium. They turned on the news and we listened to President Roosevelt declare war. I was 17.' Cook was drafted and decided to join the paratroopers. During Cook's journey overseas on the Queen Mary, the D-Day invasion occurred. His assignment was as a replacement. On the way to Berlin, they found a labor camp and liberated thousands of Italian prisoners. Once in Berlin, Cook worked guard shifts around General Eisenhower's headquarters. Lacking enough points to go home, Cook made the Army wresting team and competed until he was able to return to the United States. Cook recalls being a  member of the Army's wrestling team, helping free Italians from a labor camp, and guarding General Eisenhower's quarters in Berlin, Germany.