Posted by Terry Powers on August 7, 2023:

From his Find-A-Grave memorial: It is a little long, but need to read through to the end... USMA Class of 1940 Capt Robert Gibson Cooper BIRTH 9 Jan 1918 New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA DEATH 9 Jan 1945 (aged 27) BURIAL Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA PLOT Section ME Site 194 MEMORIAL ID 22486402 From its earliest days, New Haven, Connecticut, was a thriving academic and cultural community. Colonel Avery John "A.J." Cooper, Sr. and Ona Gibson Cooper chose the Elm City in which to rear their family. On January 9, 1918, the fourth of the couple's children, Robert Gibson Cooper, was welcomed by his parents, a brother and two sisters. After Robert's birth, A.J. and Ona added a daughter and two sons to complete their large family. Ona and their children relocated with A.J. over the course of his military career. They lived in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Ona was born. In 1926, the Cooper family lived in the Philippines briefly and then relocated to at Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii. Robert graduated from Honolulu's Roosevelt High School in 1936. That fall, Robert relocated to Highland, New York to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1940 and received his Second Lieutenant's commission on June 11. He was attached to the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment, United States Army, posted in the Philippines. During his service, Robert was promoted to 1LT on October 19, 1941' and to Captain on January 24, 1942. In Harm's Way, the Battle of the Philippines (1941-1942) - Just before the surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, the 59th Artillery Regiment was moved to Fort Drum in Manila Bay to reinforce its manpower. When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, the 59th was at battle stations. The enemy's bombing and artillery fire was started against Corregidor on December 29, 1941. Throughout January -- March, the Fort sustained heavy shelling from Japanese 150mm and 250mm howitzers. Slowly, the enemy's constant battering wore away the Fort's structure. On April 10, 1942, only Fort Drum and the other harbor forts remained in American hands. On the night of May 5, the Fort's 14-inch batteries opened fire on the Japanese forces' second wave assaulting Corregidor, sinking several troop barges and inflicting heavy casualties. Fort Drum continued firing to within minutes of Corregidor's surrender at 1200 hours on May 6, 1942. Battery E Commander, LTC Lewis S. Kirkpatrick, then ordered the flooding of the "Concrete Battleship" and destruction of its operable guns. During the battle, all members of the 59th were either killed, missing in action, or taken prisoner. LTC Kirkpatrick, 43, died on April 27, 1943, of pneumonia, exacerbated by starvation, beatings, and exposure to the elements. A Survivor Against All Odds. Japanese captors, faced with an estimated 70,000 Allied troops, force-marched prisoners sixty miles to Bataan. Only 54,000 made it to Camp O'Donnell. The Death March was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime. Captain Cooper survived the Battle of Corregidor and the Bataan Death March, though for Robert and his fellow servicemen, their lives had been suspended from the war's evolution. Their day-to-day existence was survival from beatings, diseases, and deprivations. Thousands of Allied men died in captivity. Prisoners were either transported on trains to other Philippine areas, shipped to work camps on the Japanese mainland or imprisoned, first at Camp O'Donnell, or in Cabanatuan City. Camp O'Donnell became overwhelmed quickly with the sheer number of starving, sick prisoners. Cabanatuan POW camp was located about 60 miles north of Manila. Under relentless enemy atrocities, lack of adequate, nourishing food or basic medical care, Americans and Filipinos suffered and died daily. Scant food and water combined with overall environmental conditions, contributed to deaths from injuries and diseases, such as beri beri, hookworm, pellagra, scurvy, malaria, dengue fever, dysentery, and tropical ulcers. As Japan's ongoing war needs for raw materials accelerated, prisoners of war were transported to other labor camps or the mainland, via "hell ships." Converted from merchant or transports, these unmarked vessels became horrific extensions of land-based camps. On December 13, 1944, Captain Cooper was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. The Oryoku left Manila with 1,620 prisoners of war packed in the holds and 1,900 Japanese civilians and military personnel. As she neared the Olongapo Naval Base in Subic Bay, United States Navy planes from USS Hornet attacked the unmarked ship, causing it to sink on December 15. As a surviving prisoner, Captain Cooper was taken to the port of Takao, Formosa. In January 1945, the U.S. Marines, U.S. Army, and Allied troops were island-hopping toward General McArthur's prized Manila and according to later plans, to the Japanese mainland. In the European Theater of Operations (ETO) the United States Army and Allied forces were struggling through Europe's worst winter in 40 years. Thousands of GIs died during the Battle of the Bulge. But their deaths were harbingers of Germany's certain defeat. As Allied troops pushed westward, Russian forces were closing on Berlin from the Eastern front. The Third Reich's clock was ticking toward unconditional surrender. On January 9, the Enoura Maru prepared to sail with the prisoners who had survived the earlier sinking of the Oryoku Maru. While in port, the unmarked enemy ship was attacked by Allied aircraft resulting in the deaths of approximately 400 POWs. Robert was among those prisoners. Captain Cooper, officially listed as missing in action, died on January 9, 1945. It was his 27th birthday. Robert's body was not recovered. Colonel Avery John Cooper, 64, died on October 23, 1944, while his son was in Japanese captivity. Captain Cooper was survived by his mother, brothers, and sisters. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, and Asia/Pacific Campaign Medal. His unit received three Presidential Unit Citations for its participation in the Philippine campaigns. Cooper's cenotaph rests at Arlington National Cemetery, Section ME, Site 194, with his cenotaph at the Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. Robert Gibson Cooper was a member of a distinguished family whose father was an example of a career military officer. Robert's older brother, Col. Avery John Cooper, Jr. (1912-1997) was a graduate of the United States Military Academy West Point, Class of 1933. A decorated combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, Colonel Cooper, Jr. was the former commandant of Fort Sam Houston base. He is buried on the quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Inscription CAPT, COAST ARTY CORPS WORLD WAR II Family Members Parents Avery John Cooper 1880--1944 (US Army Coast Artillery) Ona Caroline Gibson Cooper 1884--1967 Siblings Avery John Cooper 1912--1997 (USMA 1933) Ona Carey Cooper 1913--1995 Ella Gibson Cooper Thomas 1915--2006 *Robert Gibson Cooper 1918--1945 (USMA 1940) Norman Cooper 1919--1919 Caroline C. Cooper Wills 1921--2010 Kenneth Banks Cooper 1923--2007 (USMA 1944) Richmond James Cooper 1927--2011 (USMA 1948)

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