“He was daddy’s hero; now he’s everyone’s hero.”
This fallen hero deserves his nation’s thanks, praise, and eternal remembrance (hat tip - reader Lynne):
He gave his dad a hero and his country his life.
On Sunday, Marine Cpl. Justin Cooper of Eupora was killed in combat in Afghanistan.
Cooper’s father, Alan Cooper, said he was told by Marine officials who visited his home Sunday night that the 22-year-old died after he was shot in the chest, just above his body armor, during a fire fight.
“I never knew so many people could break down and cry over the phone when you tell them something like that,” Alan Cooper said as he tried not to sob.
“He had more friends than anyone I know. He was daddy’s hero; now he’s everyone’s hero.”
Being a Marine was something Cooper had always dreamed about, his father said.
After he graduated from Eupora High School in 2004, Justin Cooper attended Holmes Community College for one semester before enlisting in the Marines. It was Christmas Eve when he told his father he was going to be a Marine.
“I remember telling him he needed to have a lot of thought before doing this. He felt his country needed him at the time more than he needed school,” Alan Cooper said.
He served two tours in Iraq, rising quickly through the ranks. Alan Cooper said he was told his son was one of the best scout snipers the Marines had seen in decades.
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Categories: Iraq
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My condolensces to this brave familiy’s loss tonight. My uncle was a marine. Semper Fidelis.
All give some, some give all. This young man makes me proud to be an American.
Semper Fi and GOD bless this family.
This man helped M. Obama’s kids.
May Corporal Cooper’s family find strength and peace in this time of great loss.
He was obviously a brave young man.
Semper Fi my brother.
Thank you, Justin, for putting service before self. Semper Fi, my friend.
Salute! Rest in peace Marine. You have done your country proud. My condolences to his family.
May God bless this man and comfort his family.
Hero, indeed.
What an honorable son and what an honorable American. May his family be blessed and may he be at rest in the arms of Jesus for Eternity.
Cpl. Justin Cooper R.I.P. Semper fidelis Marine. My prayers are with the family.
I pray Jesus will comfort Justin’s family….
God rest his soul and bless his family.
Psalm 27:10
Scriptures tell us that there is “no greater love than to give one’s life for another”. Because of the tremendous courage and love for his family and America, Marine Cpl. Justin Cooper gave his own life! May God pour out his blessings of comfort to his family and friends! I will be forever grateful for him! He has given us all the gift of another day to make a difference in the lives of those we love and in the lives of complete strangers just as he did! We must not waste that precious opportunity! jb
“Our Father Who art in Heaven, we ask Thy blessing upon Marine Cpl. Justin Cooper and upon all of our departed Marines and FMF Corpsmen who have preceded us in death. Especially, Heavenly Father, we beseech Thee on behalf of those who died in battle with none of their dear ones to comfort them and with little opportunity to prepare to report before Thy judgment throne. For all of our fellow Marines and FMF Corpsmen who faithfully served our Country and who sacrificed and bled that our people might have freedom, justice, and the right to worship Thee in their own way. We pray for Thy tender care and everlasting hope that some day we may be reunited at Thy feet in Peace and that war and all the attendant evils will no more demand the sacrifice of the flower of human kind. Thou hast said unto us, “Greater love hath no man that he lay down his life for his friend.” Reward those of our Marines and FMF Corpsmen who have made the supreme sacrifice of their life, a way possible only with Thee, for we know Thy ways are just.”
mhpaslay
I join in your prayer…it is beautiful…AMEN
Another Marine reporting for duty to guard the streets of Heaven.
May God bless and keep you Cpl Cooper. My prayers go out to your family. My gratitude is forever yours…
Semper Fidelis!
What’s amazing to me is that you can find all kinds of insipid little whiners on the net scared to death about losing their “liberties” and “rights” and yet not a one will acknowledge this brave man who gave his all to protect them.
Marine Cpl. Justin Cooper, the world is a poorer place without you in it.
Rest in peace.
My God. Somebody make it stop.
God rest his brave soul
Semper Fidelis
et
Semper Gratus
Freedom isn’t free. I appreciate what the men and women of our armed forces are doing to protect my freedom all over the world from the DMZ in Korea to Afghanistan and Iraq to Central Europe. We owe these men and women and their families a great debt. God bless them for their service and sacrifice.
May God be with his family. Marine Cpl. Cooper is now with God. Thank you for defending freedom and standing up for our amazing Nation.
Mr. Cooper : my heart cries for you -your family - your friends
Love,
CS
“He felt his country needed him at the time more than he needed school”
Truly the words of an American hero.
I’m always amazed at the quality of young people our nation can produce.
May Cpl.Cooper be long remembered and may God comfort his family and friends.
God bless Cpl Cooper and his loved ones.
Marine Cpl Justin Cooper, I salute you. Thank you for being one of the watchers in the night.
This country that you served so well offers you her gratitude and praise for your valor, honor, and faithfulness to duty. May you rest now with God, who is also semper fidelis.
Almighty God, we pray You will bless and comfort Justin’s family and friends. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Semper Fi and walk with God my brother. This month I have seniors on my bus making the same decisions as Cpl. Cooper, and not once have I heard anything but repaying my country for what it has given me. Gives me some hope for this “future” generation, course, these are not the kids the MSM reports on.
May the Lord help his family and friends through this difficult time.
Semper Fidelis, my brother.
Tears.
May God the Father Almighty rest his Soul and Comfort his family.
Marine Cpl. Justin Cooper, Rest in Peace.
Semper Fidelis and a hearty thank-you from a fellow Marine. I never saw combat (served from 82 to 90). I cannot imagine the horrors. I cannot imagine the heartbreak of parents and loved ones.
Cpl Cooper served his country well. And we are grateful. May we all wish to serve in the same spirit of this fine Marine. “Till there be no enemy but peace.”
Andy Hefty, former Sergeant
Thank Mr Alan Cooper for raising such a brave son. Justine fought hard for us.
Justine will always be remembered as a hero who died fighting for a noble cause that he believed in.
We mourn the loss of your yound Marine hero son. We cry with you today.
He has a special place in my heart forever.
OldGuy53, I always mention that myself. The usual suspects who are the first to pounce on other things never come to posts like this unless it’s to mock either the person or one of the posters, or the decision the person made to join.
May God Bless Cpl Cooper and his family, you are in my prayers.
Nope, we are going to continue to honor this man even if you will not. Coward.
May God hold this Marine’s family and the families of all those have lost a loved one during this War. They are all in my prayers this morning.
A man truly worth taking a moment to remember.
Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
“Soldier rest! thy warfare o’er, Sleep the sleep thast knows not breaking, Dream of battled fields no more, Days of danger, nights of waking.” Sir Walter Scott
rest in peace, good sir.
You should be ashamed. or banned. or both.
Terrig, not in this thread, but at some point we should continue our discussion from this weekend about perceptions and the role that they play in the outcome of this War.
For what exactly?
#11 mhpaslay
AMEN!
Roger that. May your son rest in peace. May God bless and comfort your family.
He is now at his final duty station. Because we all know that when we get to Heaven, we will find “the street guarded by United States Marines.”
I believe the comment he made, and the response I gave, are rather self explanatory.
DarkNight,
This thread is about paying honor to a fallen hero. If you cannot do that, stop thread jacking. This is not an opportunity to discuss the war or its problems.
Pay honor or shut up.
A man who puts his country before himself. A real servant to mankind. God rest your soul and cover your family with peace.
Our prayers for the Cooper family and friends during their time for grief as our country losses another of its best and brightest. Thank God we have young people that still are willing to put themselves into harms way fighting the enemy over there instead of here.
May he rest in peace my mom will be there to welcome him and the lord will bless him and his family.
Godspeed, Cpl. Cooper. My sympathies go out to his family. Another Great American that we can’t afford to lose.
Walk with the ANGELS young COOPER… SEMPER FI…
Thank you, Cpl. Cooper.
And amen! to mhpaslay’s prayer (#11).
My sympathies to this brave young man’s family and friends. I am filled with pride in my country that it can produce such upstanding, altruistic young citizens as Cpl. Cooper.
OORah (and HOOAH!) from this old dog soldier to the Corps and its fine men like Cpl Cooper.
waiting for MSM report on the life of another brave American killed by towelhead terrorists…
any moment now Keith Oberloon’s military special report eulogizing our warriors who have given their lives…
3.. 2.. 1..
[ sound of crickets ]
Cpl Cooper, you fought proud and hard, your mission here is done. Thank you for pressing the fight; we’ll continue it from here. God bless you, rest in peace, brother; Semper Fidelis!
May God please extend His mercy on the Cooper family during these most troubling of times!
As do all our fallen heroes. May Cpl. Justin Cooper rest in peace and his family find peace.
Semper Fi, brother. We won’t forget.
One fine American Patriot…they don’t come any better.
Thank you sir for your sacrifice, do rest in peace.
One more bright shining star in the heavens tonight, Cpl. Cooper.
Semper Fi,
R.I.P.
.
God bless him and his family and all who serve our country in the armed services.
On-my-soapbox, my comment was directed at Terrig. She posted a comment in the open thread from this weekend, that I responded to, but got no response from her. I was not sure she had seen it.
This morning, she commented on this story at 7:41 a.m.
So I posted a comment at 8:18 a.m. that is linked to our discussion in the open thread. It was my hope that she would click the link and see my reponse to her comment. This was not meant to be a threadjack.
Note how I said:
I was not trying to threadjack this thread to talk about the War. It was in hope that she would see the comments from this weekend and we could continue that discussion at some other time in the future.
If you misinterpreted this attempt to get her attention as “threadjacking” then I apologize.
I reiterate my comment in post 31 in this thread that my prayers are with this (and all) Marine families who have experienced tragedy during this War.