Hopper, Joseph Clifford
Air Force Staff sergeant

Joseph Clifford Hopper, age 24, from Memphis, Tennessee, Shelby county.

Parents: Clifford Hopper
Spouse: Awei Hopper
Children: None

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, May 3, 1972
Death details: On June 12, 1974, the Central Identification Laboratory-Thailand (CILT, now DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Joseph Clifford Hopper, missing from the Vietnam War. Staff Sergeant Hopper joined the U.S. Air Force from Tennessee and was a member of the 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 374th Tactical Airlift Wing. On May 3, 1972, he was a crew member aboard a C-130E Hercules that took off on a resupply mission near An Loc, Vietnam. The aircraft was shot down during the mission, and SSgt Hopper died in the incident. Once fighting in the area had subsided, search and rescue teams recovered the remains of most of the C-130E’s crew; however, SSgt Hopper’s remains could not be individually identified until 1974.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Memphis Commercial Appeal (1974)