Benjamin Grover Hopkins, Jr., was born in Murray, Nebraska on September 16, 1920 to Grover and Tena Hopkins. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1940, and retired in 1962.
According to the article in Our Navy Mr. Hopkins did not feel that he could make a second journey to the coast. Mr. Hopkins, along with a British officer that had lost both legs, insisted on being left at a first aid station. The Japanese later took them as prisoners of war. He spent three years and eight months as a prisoner of war.
Mr. Hopkins died on July 27, 1969, in San Diego, California. He was 48 years old. At the time of his death he was an Electronics Consultant Engineer, and had just returned from Subic Bay.
Here are four newspaper articles from the Cass County Echo regarding Mr. Hopkins:
A capture of Mr. Hopkins' memorial page is here.
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