On December 11, 1972, PHSA National President Merle Stouffer appointed Sarge Cook to be Coordinator for SDPHS and to continue efforts to form a national organization as well as promote additional local chapters. On May 5, 1973 at the PHSA National Executive Board meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, it was recommended that any organization of sons and daughters be formed with its own identity, rather than as a subsidiary of the PHSA organization. Sarge Cook enlisted the support of individual survivors, spouses and their offspring to make the SDPHS an independent organization.