The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) arrived in Malta yesterday for a brief visit. The vessel, which is an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer, was launched in 1997 and is commanded by William J. Parker III.

With a complement of 337, USS Donald Cook is named after US Marine Corps Vietnam War hero Colonel Donald G. Cook, who was awarded the Medal of Honour (posthumously) for his extraordinary courage while a prisoner of war. Col. (then Captain) Cook served in Vietnam as an observer from Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.

Accompanying elements of the 4th Vietnamese Marines, Col. Cook was wounded and captured by a vastly superior Viet Cong force on New Year’s Eve 1964 near Binh Gia, Phouc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, while on a search and recovery mission for a downed American helicopter crew.