Robert Gibson Cooper was born on January 1, 1918, in New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut. He was the son of Avery John Cooper and Ona Caroline Gibson Cooper. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1936. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating with the Class of 1940 and receiving his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps. Assigned to the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment, Cooper was stationed in the Philippines and promoted to Captain by early 1942.

During the Battle of the Philippines, Cooper and his regiment defended Fort Drum in Manila Bay, enduring relentless Japanese bombardment. When Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942, the surviving defenders were taken prisoner. Cooper survived both the Bataan Death March and imprisonment at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan, where prisoners endured starvation, disease, and abuse.

In December 1944, he was among over a thousand POWs loaded onto the hell ship Oryoku Maru bound for Japan. The unmarked ship was sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft off Subic Bay on December 15, 1944. Cooper survived that attack but was later transferred to the Enoura Maru, which was bombed at Takao, Formosa (Taiwan) on January 9, 1945, his 27th birthday, killing approximately 400 prisoners, including him. His body was never recovered.

Cpt Cooper's name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, defender.west-point.org