By Jim Thompson
Published August 8, 2019
NFW Daily News
NICEVILLE — When Clara Beth LaFollette and Gretchen Erickson left Philip Hooper’s home on that July day, they knew they had to do something.
Hooper, 95, is a World War II veteran who saw action in landmark struggles including D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Market Garden as part of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division’s 327th Glider Infantry Regiment. Then a staff sergeant, Hooper earned the Purple Heart after being wounded by German artillery fire on Jan. 16, 1945 in Bastogne, Belgium.
Sadly, though, in the intervening years he lost track of the Purple Heart and the other awards and decorations he’d earned during the war.