This is a salute to a great American: Harry Joe Hooper.  I found out about Harry in a rather oblique fasion… my Tivo found him.  A random Tivo suggestion grabbed a Trick My Truck episode about a Vietnam Memorial Replica.  I’d never seen the show, but as a fan of the extraordinary, I couldn’t help but watch.

Mr. Hooper served his country in the Korean War as a young man.  After the war, he tended the graves of soldiers as an undertaker in his county.  Now retired, Harry spends his time driving a replica of the vietnam memoral around to different towns to help honor those that served and help his fellow vets find some closure.  I think Harry put it best:

“Well those fellows didn’t get any respect when they came home, it’s the least we can do is show some now.”

This country sure could use a few more men like Harry Hooper.