The purpose of this page is to share information and photographs with relatives and descendants of Stillman and Margaret Cook. You are welcome to copy and keep any of the photographs we post! If you have any information, corrections or photographs to share, please send them along!

Story of Johnny Blekkenk

 John H. Blekkenk JR was the only son of John Henry and Amelia Treibor Blekkenk. He was born December 1st, 1923 in Rochester NY. Popular with his cousins, Johnny was known for his smile and good nature.

He enlisted in the Army Air Force in World War II and became a tailgunner in a B-24. He was stationed in Britain with the 578th Bomb Squadron. On April 9th, 1944 his B-24 took off into poor weather conditions on its sixth bombing mission.

The planes of his Squadron reached the assembly area where they were joined by planes from several other squadron's. The heavy weather created confusion, with some planes heading toward the mission's target of Tutow, Germany (near Berlin). Others responded to a recall and headed back to their air fields.

Around 0900, while flying through clouds at 8,000 feet, John's B-24 collided with a plane from the 389th bomb group over Dereham. The pilot, Lt Morefield, and the navigator KS Kaufman managed to parachute to safety, but the rest of the crew, including John, were killed.

John was brought back for burial in Rochester. Whenever we were in Riverside Cemetery Mom wanted to stop to put a flag or flowers on the grave of one of her favorite cousins.