Survivor of terrorist attack on destroyer Cole dies at 31

Even after losing his leg in the terrorist attack on the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole, Petty Officer 3rd Class Johann Gokool wasn't ready to give up the U.S. Navy. The way his former shipmates tell it, he wanted to return as soon as he had healed.

Instead, he was medically discharged from the Navy.

"At first he had a hard time with his injuries and with what happened, but he really picked up the pieces," said his former commanding officer, retired Cmdr. Kirk Lippold. "He had a very positive attitude. He was very strong."

Now friends and family are wondering what caused his sudden death last week at age 31.

He died Wednesday in Homestead, Fla., where he lived with two of his brothers. Relatives said they found him unconscious on the floor in his room around 6 p.m. and he couldn't be revived.

His body has undergone an autopsy but a cause of death couldn't be identified, the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office said. Further tests have been ordered, and results could take several weeks.

In interviews Monday, relatives and former comrades described him as a hard-working, well-liked sailor who wasn't held back by the trauma of what he experienced.

"He was very close with a lot of people on the Cole," recalled James Parlier, the Cole's former command master chief, who said he treated Gokool immediately after the bombing. "He loved the Navy and he tried hard to stay in, even without his leg."

Gokool served as an electronic warfare technician on the Cole. Seventeen sailors died in the attack aboard the ship on Oct. 12, 2000, during a refueling stop in Aden, Yemen. The attack was later linked to al-Qaida.

Gokool lost the lower portion of his left leg in the bombing. He later was awarded a Purple Heart.

His only lingering health problem was a seizure disorder that doctors couldn't explain, said his brother Anjelo Gokool. "We really don't know what happened to him," he said.

Gokool had a cloth patch bearing the Cole's crest molded into the plastic of his prosthetic leg, Lippold said. "He was very proud to have served on that ship."

Anjelo Gokool said his brother had just returned from a trip to his native Trinidad. He said he saw him alive for the last time on the morning of his death, and he seemed fine.

"He was a really happy person - always upbeat," Anjelo Gokool said. "He didn't think of himself as handicapped. He was just living his life. I think a lot of people respected him for that."

Lippold said he hopes authorities will work to determine whether Gokool's death is tied to injuries he sustained in the Cole bombing. If it is, his death should be added to the list of accusations against the attack's alleged planners, Lippold said.

A suspect in the attack, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is expected to be tried by a military commission next year.

Corinne Reilly (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com