Crippled Home Front

Joe Hooper, a Medal of Honor winner who battled booze and died young.

Joe Hooper, a Medal of Honor winner who battled booze and died young.

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More About

• Joe Hooper
• Beacon Hill
• The Pentagon
• Veterans' Affairs
• World War II

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During my visit to the VA hospital, I went looking for Joe Hooper's plaque, which I had seen unveiled when a wing was named in his honor a dozen years back. "Joe who?" said a man at the information desk. Others were stumped, too. I couldn't recall the plaque's exact location and rode elevators and roamed a mile of hallways unsuccessfully. Last week, public affairs director Rowe told me she had found the plaque in the Addictions Services building, but the area was off-limits to me. She wanted me to know that, if the VA system failed Hooper, it learned from those mistakes. "People back then didn't give much credence to understanding [post-traumatic stress disorder] and addiction as they should have. I think we know a lot more and have moved forward with a greater understanding." In that sense, you can say Joe Hooper, even if forgotten, continues to help rescue his fellow soldiers. He is buried, by the way, in Arlington National Cemetery. Near the Tomb of the Unknowns.

randerson@seattleweekly.com