THE OCEAN PINES INDEPENDENT

Pines buddies honor veteran
Memorial paver dedicated

By Susan Canfora

Having an engraved paver dedicated to him and laid at the Worcester County Veterans Memorial in Ocean Pines is a tribute the late Glenn Hoppert would have greatly appreciated.

"Absolutely. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery and this is something he would have liked. Very much so," said Hoppert's widow, Donna.

"He had often said the work he did in the Army was some of the most important work he had ever done," she said.

The Hopperts lived in Connecticut, but spent time in Ocean Pines where Mrs. Hoppert's parents, Ted and Amy Rothert, live.

Hoppert's paver was dedicated at the memorial during a ceremony by the South Gate Pond Saturday, compliments of his best friend and golfing partner Dave Paquet of Ocean Pines, and other golfing buddies in the community.

Paquet described the ceremony as "a small service of probably 30 plus people."

"One of Glenn's friends, who was with the Marine Brigade over there, recruited Fred Bohn of Ocean Pines to act as the chaplain," Paquet said.

"When Glenn died and the war memorial was built I felt it would be appropriate to get Glenn a paver, so I ordered it and then I was talking to some friends and they said, 'Can we chip in?' So we will have a paver and a nice wreath there," he said.

Hoppert's captain in Vietnam, Capt. Michael McFadden, was guest speaker.

Paquet, too, served in Vietnam, "so that was one thing we had in common," he said.

"There were 55,000 of our brothers who never came home from that war and there certainly is a bond among those of us who served. We talked about the war to a degree but not in great detail," Paquet said.

Hoppert, a native of Baltimore, was a point man during the Vietnam War, his widow said.

"That meant he was the guy who went out front and looked for people trying to kill them. He had incredible eyesight and he was a very good marksman," she said.

Hoppert served in Vietman in the mid-1960s, then became a police officer in Washington, and rose to the position of commander in the metropolitan police force. He retired in 1999.

Hoppert died June 17. He was 58.

Hoppert was cremated and he had a full military burial in Arlington National Cemetery, honoring him for being awarded bronze and silver stars for bravery, Paquet said.

Paquet described Hoppert as "very quiet."

"A lot of his friends didn't even know he was in the military and he had won medals. They were quite surprised when I started telling them about Glenn and everything he had done," he said.

"He was somewhat introverted, quiet. At the same time once he got to know you, he was very friendly and had a lot of humor to him. One of his quotes would be, 'Gee, even Ray Charles could see that coming' related to anything, on the golf course or relating to something that went over your head and you could have seen it," Paquet said.

Originally published Sept. 28, 1995

"Glenn was in the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. I was an Army man. I was drafted and served 1964-66 in Vietnam. Glenn was in Vietnam in 1966-67. I was in the MPs and Glenn, after he got out of the service, ended up joining the Washington, D.C. police force," he said.

Mrs. Hoppert still works but her husband took advantage of his retirement and often traveled from Connecticut to the Pines for a few days to play golf.

"After retirement the community of Ocean Pines was very important to him, for his golfing and for the many friendships he made there," his widow said.

Mrs. Hoppert purchased engraved pavers for her parents, both World War II veterans.

Prior to the ceremony, there was an informal golf tournament in Hoppert's honor.

"Some of his friends and others who didn't know him got together for some golf. It was the first Glenn Hoppert Tournament. Next year we'll put out fliers and come up with something that we think Glenn would like," he said.