Army Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook

Remember Our Heroes

Army Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook, 19, of Hungry Horse, Mont.

Pvt Cook was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy; died March 7, 2010 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. Montana soldier killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

HUNGRY HORSE, Mont. — The Department of Defense said Wednesday a Montana soldier was killed in Afghanistan over the weekend when insurgents opened fire on his unit.

Defense officials said 19-year-old Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook of Hungry Horse was killed in Konar province on Sunday. His body arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday.

Kathy Taylor said her grandson joined the Army in April and had been in Afghanistan for just over two months when he was killed. He was set to come home on leave in about two weeks.

She said the Army had not given her any more details about her grandson’s death, including whether any of Cook’s fellow soldiers were killed or injured in the attack.

“All I know is they were out on patrol,” said Taylor, who with her husband raised Cook since he was just 3 years old. “They had finished whatever they were doing and were coming back out of the area when they were ambushed.”

Cook, a 2008 graduate of Columbia Falls High School, loved excitement, whether it came from jumping out of airplanes, off of bridges or cliffs, or snowboarding in the Alps.

“He was quite a daredevil,” Taylor said. “He liked to hunt, skateboard, bike, ride dirt bikes and four-wheelers. And he lived and breathed snowboarding.”

In a posting on his MySpace page, Cook jokingly listed his hometown as “Afghanistan, Montana,” and wrote that “not many people can say they are as stoked about life in general and what they are doing right now.”

“I sure as hell can,” he continued. “I’m doing more now and have seen more already than I ever thought I would.”

Cook was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based in Camp Ederle, Italy.

Army Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook was killed in action on 3/7/10.