Army Spc. Michael B. Cook Jr.

Died June 6, 2011 Serving During Operation New Dawn

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27, of Middletown, Ohio, assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with indirect fire June 6 in Baghdad. Also killed were Army Spc. Emilio J. Campo Jr., Army Spc. Christopher B. Fishbeck, Army Spc. Robert P. Hartwick and Army Pfc. Michael C. Olivieri.

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Soldier with NH ties killed in Iraq
The Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire governor's office says one of the five American soldiers who died this week when a barrage of rockets slammed into a base in Iraq was from Salem.

Pfc. Michael Cook had been in Iraq since November.

Reports say Cook graduated from Salem High School in 2003. Monday, the day of the attack, was Cook's 27th birthday. He is survived by a wife and two young children in Kansas.

Cook's parents and two siblings live in Salem.

Gov. John Lynch issued a statement Wednesday thanking Cook for his service and extending condolences to his family.

Lynch called Cook "a hero to all of us."

The attack was the largest, single-day loss of life for U.S. forces in Iraq in two years.