OCTOBER 2019 61
TRAINING COMPLETED in San Francisco,
Cook set sail for Camp Barnes in Noumea,
New Caledonia, aboard the USS Tjizadane.
He painted a dramatic watercolor (above)
called Firing From the After Gun Turret while
passing Fiji.
BURROWED DEEP INTO THE MUD
(opposite, top), Cook sketched from a foxhole
as men emerged after an air raid. He rarely
drew while in direct combat yet chose to in
this case, noting his hiding place at the
sketch’s bottom.
“A SOLID GREEN MESS” is how Cook
UHIHUUHGWRWKH6RXWK3DFLÞFpVMXQJOHV
(opposite, bottom) in a particularly evocative
OHWWHU-DSDQHVHVROGLHUVFRXOGHDVLO\ÞUH
on their enemies using the dense forest as
cover; “the front is all over the place and
is always hidden,” Cook told his wife.
COOK AND HIS FELLOW ARTISTS ate
standard military grub; dinner sometimes
included treats like fresh fruit, vegetables,
and ice cream. In Jungle Rations (right), Cook
drew a soldier settled down for a quick meal.
“They’re all
American,
and there’s
not an
ounce of
soft stuff
in them,”
Cook
observed of
the soldiers
he drew.