Nov 11, 9:46 PM EST
By KEN KUSMER
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Descendants of World War I flying ace Harvey Weir Cook celebrated the Veterans Day dedication of a new passenger terminal bearing his name, a belated consolation for the removal of his name from the airport he helped develop more than 60 years ago.
Indianapolis International Airport, known as Weir Cook Airport before 1976, dedicated the $1 billion terminal Tuesday with more than a dozen members of the Cook family and others in attendance.
"We all took it hard," said Harvey Weir Cook III of Columbus, Ohio, who helped ceremoniously cut a red ribbon to open the midfield terminal. "It's a great honor to have my grandfather recalled this way."
Cook, a native of Wilkinson east of Indianapolis, shot down seven German planes while a captain with the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I. He returned to military service in World War II as a lieutenant colonel in 1942 and died in a plane crash the following year in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific. The airport was named after Cook in 1944.
The development of the new terminal sparked an effort by family members, veterans groups and others to return the Weir Cook name to the entire airport, but a compromise with airport leaders resulted in naming the new structure the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal Building. The main road serving it is also named after the flying ace.
The new terminal received its first arriving passengers Tuesday evening. The first departures from the new terminal were scheduled for Wednesday.
By KEN KUSMER
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Descendants of World War I flying ace Harvey Weir Cook celebrated the Veterans Day dedication of a new passenger terminal bearing his name, a belated consolation for the removal of his name from the airport he helped develop more than 60 years ago.
Indianapolis International Airport, known as Weir Cook Airport before 1976, dedicated the $1 billion terminal Tuesday with more than a dozen members of the Cook family and others in attendance.
"We all took it hard," said Harvey Weir Cook III of Columbus, Ohio, who helped ceremoniously cut a red ribbon to open the midfield terminal. "It's a great honor to have my grandfather recalled this way."
Cook, a native of Wilkinson east of Indianapolis, shot down seven German planes while a captain with the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I. He returned to military service in World War II as a lieutenant colonel in 1942 and died in a plane crash the following year in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific. The airport was named after Cook in 1944.
The development of the new terminal sparked an effort by family members, veterans groups and others to return the Weir Cook name to the entire airport, but a compromise with airport leaders resulted in naming the new structure the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal Building. The main road serving it is also named after the flying ace.
The new terminal received its first arriving passengers Tuesday evening. The first departures from the new terminal were scheduled for Wednesday.
