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Bunyan Randolph Cooner, born at Columbia, South Carolina, on 27 February 1914, enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve 12 June 1939. After flight training, he was commissioned ensign 3 September 1941 and served with Bombing Squadron 3 in . He was awarded the Navy Cross for gallant service in the , participating in vigorous and repeated attacks against Japanese warships. Cooner was killed in a plane crash during flight operations at NAS Pearl Harbor on 16 June 1942. The , launched on 25 July 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, New Jersey and commissioned 21 August 1943 was named in Cooner's honor.
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