Memorial services with full military honors for
Joseph Robert Kope will begin at 1 p.m. today at Happy Homestead Cemetery.
Old men cry as the last companion who understands is lowered into the ground.
Today his open grave will be surrounded by forest, wrinkled uniforms and the cry of a lone bugle. Ceremonial gun shots will send echoes across time, carrying survivors back to their own distant jungles, hedge row, deserts, beach landings and bare Korean hills.
For more veterans, only soldiers and a few family members will gather at their funerals. Few of us know history, can discuss politics beyond celebrity worship and have never considered for what we might fight and possibly die.
But Joseph Robert Kope knew. He was a command sergeant major of our U.S. Army Special Forces.
For 28 years he put his life on the line for his country and his community.
He helped make history, preserve the peace and keep the world's terrors distant so that we civilians were unaware of the darker forces swirling around us and were able to continue living our privileged lives.
Please join us to salute the life of an American who deserves our respect and thanks.
-- Brent MacKinnon, member
American Legion Post 795
