Captain (later Brigadier General) Everett Richard Cook was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. During World War II, Cook became Deputy Chief of Staff for the U. S. 8th Air Force, headquartered in London, under the command of General Carl "Toohey" Spaatz. Cook joined the U. S. Army "Aero Service," the embryonic predecessor of the U.S. Air Force, in May 1917. He entered service as a First Lieutenant in the European theater in November, 1917, and began flying reconnaissance missions in combat, behind enemy lines on June 3, 1918.