Chris was born on 25 February 1927 as the oldest son of John Cockerham and wife Emelia Lorente, members of the American expatriate community that had been in the Philippines since the end of the Spanish-American War. Chris passed away exactly 78 years to the hour on the anniversary of the time that General Douglas MacArthur was awakened with news that Pearl Harbor had been attacked devastating 93 American warships. 3 am that day was when everything began to change for the Cockerham family in the Philippines.
The attack on the Philippines was similarly disastrous. Axis bombers arrived while the combined U.S. - Philippine air force was being armed and fueled, allowing half the fleet to be wiped out. By 8 May 1942, allied forces throughout the Philippine Islands officially surrendered to Japan.
Chris' brother Henry Cockerham recently explained: "When World War II started, our world was turned upside-down. Papa lost his job. Being fair-skinned, blue-eyed, freckled, tall, and with American name & identification papers, he was not hirable in the Philippines after Pearl Harbor. We had no household income."
When Axis powers took control of Manila their father went into hiding and their grandfather was imprisoned as a POW. "So, at fourteen years of age,” explained Henry, "Chris took over as the head of household. He immediately traded the family's three racehorses for three draft horses & a horse-drawn wagon for hauling cargo from the market to restaurants & a nearby Catholic orphanage. That orphanage was now a POW camp where our grandfather was imprisoned. By hauling cargo to supply that POW camp, we were able to sneak in letters & medicine to inmates. As he returned to our town each day Chris would loudly whistle America’s well known ’Cavalry Charge.’ The whole town would smile, recognizing this as a signal that all was well. Though young, he was our hero: a good leader and always creative in response to the occupation forces. Without Chris, we would not have survived World War II."
Unbeknownst to even the immediate family, young Chris surreptitiously smuggled other vital supplies and messages for the resistance; also undermining the Axis occupation by spreading propaganda and sharing news of the Philippine resistance operating in concert with escaped American soldiers who fought as guerrillas rather than surrender. Chris told his son, Cliff, of constantly avoiding sentries, evading patrols, and literally escaping detainment by Axis soldiers in three separate incidents.
"When World War II ended," Henry explained, "Chris was eighteen. He did not go back to school, but he was way ahead of his pre-World War II classmates. Chris spread his wings and travelled around the world several times before he was twenty years old."
After General MacArthur’s liberation of the Philippines Chris joined the U.S. Merchant Marines, serving in the U.S. Army Transport Fleet that was aggressively supplying American outposts throughout the Pacific and then the world. After a short stint in California, New Mexico, and Arizona he joined family that had been liberated by MacArthur and repatriated to New York. Shortly thereafter he served in a Heavy Mortar Unit of the 16th Infantry Regimen, U.S. Army 1st Division, earning an army service medal for the occupation of post-War Germany at Nurnberg and Shweinfurt. In his spare time he led the Heavy Mortar Unit's capture of the 16th Infantry Regimen's boxing league title. And somehow, he also found time to engage in personal diplomacy, serving as an emissary for unrelenting fraternization with as many Germans throughout the region as he could manage. Truly, he was a pioneer in what the American military now calls capturing hearts & minds once the hostilities have ended.
Mustering out at Fort Kilmer in the mid-1950’s, he returned to New York; immersing in communities of Army veterans, Merchant Marine veterans, and the diverse Filipino-American community of New York City. In addition to connection with old friends and his immediate family, Chris especially connected with other American expatriates liberated at the end of World War II. This included the four Galope sisters, which ultimately led to dating his future wife, Gloria Mary Galope.
Chris next found an entry level job in Pfizer, Inc’s Brooklyn pharmaceutical production plant, where he literally worked his way up the line over the ensuing two decades. Ready to settle down in June 1955 Chris and Gloria married, first taking up residence in Brooklyn, New York. Eleven months after the birth of their son, the family bought their first home in Queens, New York, close to the border with Long Island. Gloria took up full-time employment with the Long Island Daily Press.
To escape New York City crowding in the 1960’s they bought a farm just south of Lake Ontario, which turned out to be the snow belt of Central Upstate New York. Snow notwithstanding, this was the chance Chris always wanted: full immersion in farming to which he had been inclined throughout various phases of his life. They moved in that June and quickly learned that Chris was allergic to hay, so his next stop was food production at the Nestle Company. Again, he took an entry level job and soon worked his way to heading a production line for most of his 25 years there while Gloria worked at the Oswego County Weeklies newspaper chain.
To escape endless snowstorms, Chris seized early retirement from the Nestlé Company; moving to rural Florida where Gloria joined the staff of the University of Florida at Gainesville. The new job for Gloria and the vibrant local community, aided by a lack of snow, made these among the happiest and most fun years of their lives. When the opportunity arose, they moved into Ocala to be closer to the social scene.
They always looked forward to festivals, parties, group shopping excursions, bible study meetings, community fundraising events, and seasonal travel with church groups. Chris was especially fond of fishing trips and beach days on either coast. Taken together, the community at Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church and the extended families of that congregation were truly their lifeblood.
Chris is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Cliff Cockerham & Dr. Sherry Cummings of Nashville, TN; his granddaughter Kaitlin Cummings Cockerham of Brooklyn, New York; his younger siblings Lucy Cockerham Helligas, Theresa Cockerham Bushinger, John Cockerham, Henry Cockerham, and Albert Cockerham. Chris was pre-deceased by his older sisters Ruth and Mabel, and his wife, Gloria, who passed away in August 2018.
A note from the family of Chris Cockerham: in lieu of flowers, we ask that friends and relatives please make donations to the “Chris & Gloria Cockerham Memorial Fund to Combat Environmental Toxins,” which has been established at Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a 501c3 non-profit that shared the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. A founding principle of PSR is “Preventing what we cannot cure.”
Chris was deeply saddened last year by Gloria's death from cancer owing to her exposure to an herbicide that she used because it was widely advertised as presenting no health hazards to humans. If you would like to help prevent what we cannot cure, please make a donation through the national website at
https://secure.psr.org/page/22824/donate/1
In the dialog box for comments, please write “donation to Cockerham Memorial Fund.” All donations are 100% tax-deductible.
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