The following is an edited excerpt of the life narrative that will be read during the 2025 Gold Star Hall Ceremony.
Just outside of Waverly, Myron Jerome Poock was born May 21, 1943, son of Walter and Alita Poock. He was the oldest of five siblings and took on the responsibility of being their role model. The Poock family moved to a farm outside of Sumner in his early life. He was around 11 years old when he attended a one-room schoolhouse near the farm.
Surrounded by extended family, he and his younger brothers, Darwin, Virgil and Randy, and sister, Junever, enjoyed days with their cousins who lived and farmed nearby. On their way home from school, they would play in a creek on the side of the road. Being the oldest, Poock often reminded them of chores waiting at home.
He joined the local 4-H club and began raising beef cattle. He was so dedicated to the animals, he was known to have slept with them in the barn.
Poock was on the Sumner High School honor roll, play crew and was a reporter for the FFA program. He briefly played baseball and ultimately developed a knack for boxing, which became a common way the Poock brothers settled arguments.
Purpose and connection
After graduating from high school in 1961, he attended Iowa State University and majored in sociology. He quickly found a home on campus, becoming an active member of his residence halls each year and joining Gamma Delta, a Lutheran club. He received a merit scholarship for the 1962-63 school year.
Poock was often found at the Memorial Lutheran Church just south of campus, where Gamma Delta hosted dinners for students each Sunday. It was here he did a little "matchmaking," setting up future sweethearts, including his brother, Darwin, and a woman named Sandra.
Sandra recalled how she thought Myron Poock would have made a wonderful pastor. "He was always kind and thoughtful, and just took care of everyone around him," she said. "We became good friends."
Service, sacrifice and honor
Poock received his basic military training at Fort Riley, Kansas, as part of Iowa State's ROTC program. After graduating, he attended the U.S Army Adjutant General School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. Upon completion, he was assigned to the Armed Forces Entrance and Examining Station in Kansas City, Missouri, where he met his fiancée, Janet Maynard. After serving for two years, he was promoted to first lieutenant.
He was deployed to Vietnam in August 1967 and assigned to the Logistical Administration Advisory team in December, earning the Bronze Star for meritorious achievement and a promotion to captain. He was assigned to Military Assistance Command Team 91 in Binh Duong and his job was to work with the South Vietnamese Popular Force, a part-time local militia that mainly protected homes and villages. The Military Assistance Command was a special operations unit that conducted strategic reconnaissance and rescue operations across South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.
On July 21, 1967, he attended a cultural program in the nearby village. While he was watching a play, a hand grenade was thrown into the crowd by enemy forces, killing and wounding dozens of Vietnamese men, women and children. Medevac helicopters quickly rushed in and he was taken to the nearby Army hospital, but his injuries were too severe and he died the next day - the only U.S. casualty of the incident. He was 25 years old and had one month remaining in his service.
He was laid to rest in St. John's Lutheran Cemetery and his memory lives on through his siblings and extended family.
