WWII Army veteran, longtime Escondido teacher to be remembered at celebration of life Friday

Longtime Escondido teacher Neal Hook served in the Army during World War II and wrote about it in a memoir when he was 90.

It was a powerful account of his experiences as a rifleman in the 31st Infantry fighting in the South Pacific. Some of his story appeared in the 2018 edition of National Geographic’s book, “Eyewitness To World War II: Unforgettable Stories From History’s Greatest Conflict.”

Hook, who was one of the oldest World War II veterans in North County, died Oct. 1 of heart failure at his Escondido home. He was just weeks away from his 102nd birthday. He was born Nov. 7, 1923.

Hook joined the Army early in 1943 and trained at Camp Shelby, Miss., for a year before he was deployed to the South Pacific in the spring of 1944. He spent 22 months on the islands of New Guinea, Morotai and Mindanao, in the Philippines. He describes close encounters with Japanese soldiers in the jungle and explosions so close that he had shrapnel scars his whole life.

Hook’s 11-page memoir is on the website, The World War II Experience, a local nonprofit that preserves the stories of the World War II Generation. The nonprofit was founded by retired Palomar College history professor Linda Dudik, who encouraged Hook and other World War II veterans to write down their experiences.

After Hook wrote a short memoir, he told Dudik, who added the story to the The World War II Experience website. Then, in 2017, an editor at National Geographic chose some pages from Hook’s story for the 2018 “Eyewitness To World War II” book.

“It takes courage to revisit such moments. One is struck by the honesty with which Neal shares some of his memories,” Dudik said.

Early in his combat experience when he was in New Guinea, he wrote that “tracers were going overhead often enough for us to knowrising up or getting out of our foxhole would have gotten us killed…and from all the firing, we expected the Japanese to comeleaping into our foxholes at any minute.”

When a good friend was killed, Neal said he was “devastated and demoralized,” even though they “expected to lose many men.”

He describes a time when they dug their regular foxholes for two or three guys. “That night I woke up hearing terrible screaming. Thought my hair was standing up,” Hook wrote.  A medic had dug a hole for himself, and a Japanese soldier had jumped in and killed him.

Hook’s memoir vividly describes daily life. “We carried the wounded out on improvised litters in very difficult, steep mountainous terrain.” Later he describes the jungle, “Sometimes it would rain so intensely we thought we were coming to a rushing river, but it was just rain moving towards us, splashing against the jungle vegetation,” Hook wrote.

“Decades following his retirement, he continued to share lessons with those who are interested in the history of WW II, especially from the perspective of soldiers who fought in it,” Dudik said.

“Ever the teacher, Neal continues to teach us with his written account of his military service, even though he is no longer with us,” Dudik said.

“He was very humble, we only knew of his Purple Heart as adults,” said Hook’s daughter Leslie Froud. “He had so much honor for those that paid with their lives or were severely injured. He wanted no attention for his service.”

Hook was a fifth-grade teacher at Juniper Elementary School in Escondido for several decades. He was one of the original volunteers from local churches and synagogues to form North County Interfaith Council, which became Interfaith Community Services. Over the years, he served in many roles, including as president. Hook and his wife also participated in the Kairos Prison Ministry for 25 years and brought thousands of cookies to folks in prison. “They felt so blessed by it and always got far more than they could give,” Froud said.

Hook is survived by his wife of 76 years, Frances, three children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life for Hook will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at Trinity Episcopal Church 845 Chestnut St. in Escondido.