The Journey Continues: Remembering Robert “Buster” Hopper
My journey last week took me to a reunion of friends who shared a journey in an Infantry Rifle Company 54 years ago in Vietnam. The only thing better than a friend is an old friend.
Vietnam was one of the signature events of our lifetimes. We had plenty to talk about as a year in combat produces many memories. The urgency and camaraderie of living, fighting, and dying together made us brothers. We gathered in Columbus, Ga. (Ft. Benning) to memorialize Robert “Buster” Hopper at the service his widow, Susan, had scheduled. We visited for hours, recalling events: one was of torrid, penetrating heat one hot summer’s day when a new replacement Artillery Forward Observer (FO) stepped off a chopper, just assigned to our unit. In the command group, we saw a distraught young man who had never seen combat before; some heard him muttering curse words. After a short introduction he looked for shade from the heat and went to a nearby tree… BOOM! That shade tree hid a large bobby trap, which killed him instantly. The same chopper that had dropped him was summoned to fly back to pick up his corpse after only a 10-minute interval. That memory produced a pause; and then much conversation about how fragile life can be.
We remembered the heroic actions of 1/LT Steve Karopczyc, awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously; and our carrying him off the mountain in March, 1967. He lay down his life for the unit. John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this…that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
The memorial service was led by fellow soldiers — Jim Phillips and me. Robert Hopper was a drafted private who was discharged as Sgt. Hopper, then worked for UPS for 30 years. His wife, Susan, had been his high school girlfriend. After marriages, divorce, and widowhood, they found each other on Facebook and shared several happy years of marriage prior to his passing from cancer at a VA hospital. The best accolade given for Buster to Susan was: “If I was going to Vietnam, I’d want Buster to be my squad leader.”
Isaiah 41 was chosen as the text for Phillips’ message. In the NIV Life Application Bible, commentary for verses 10 – 30 reads: “Now all believers are God’s chosen people. We need not fear because (1) God is with us (I AM with you) (2) God has established a relationship with us (I AM your God.) and (3) God gives us assurance of his help and victory over sin and death. (For I Am your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, not fear; I will help you.”
I gave all present a photograph of Buster Hooper leading a patrol across a river. Then I spoke the words of Jesus in John 16:33: “I have come to tell you these things so you can have peace; in this world you will have trouble, but do not fear, I have overcome the world.” Knowing that overcoming the world means overcoming death, I pointed to the picture and said: “Our friend has crossed the last River before us; he goes as our ‘point man’ to Heaven.”
In conclusion, we all gave each other the respect of not discussing mistakes made by leaders in the heat of battle, political choices or theological differences in our belief systems. We were all old men, at least 70-plus. 1 Peter 2:17 summed up our reunion: “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king (our country).
