World War II Honoree

Joe Lamar Cooper

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Williamstown, Pennsylvania

Honored By

Neal A. McCarthy

Relationship

Nephew

He enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 6, 1944. He volunteered for a parachute infantry unit and was shipped south for training at Camp Blanding, in Central Florida. Through the summer of 1944, he trained to be a paratrooper. He gained his wings in August of that year after completing jump training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Assigned to the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, the unit shipped out for Europe in November 1944. He was killed in February 1945 in heavy fighting with German forces near the Belgian village of Flamierge.