31 Jan 2003 REMEMBERED ACROSS THE YEARS Sergeant First Class Robert Cooper was assigned to A Company, 86th Engineer Battalion, until we moved from Dong Tam to Binh Phuoc in November 1968 when he was assigned to D Company. I served with him as a dozer operator in the 2nd Platoon, D Company, and was with him the day that he was killed. SFC Cooper was in charge of all bridge building on Route 108 between Tan An and Binh Phuoc. We had built a pontoon bridge on 20 May and it was blown up that night. We were cleaning up the wreckage using gaff hooks, but there was one piece that we couldn't hook to. When SFC Cooper went to hook it by hand the piece moved a little and a booby trap went off, destroying his lower body. He lived for about 10 minutes, but there was nothing we could do to save him. Sergeant First Class Cooper was the best sergeant I served under in the military. Ganard Lance SP/5 D Co, 86th Engineers Vietnam 1968-69

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall The Army casualty record for SFC Cooper indicates he died of gunshot wounds. Mr. Lance, who was present at the time, indicates otherwise. While The Virtual Wall cannot alter the official record, we are inclined toward accepting eye-witness testimony from a unit member.

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 08/15/2019.