I did not know Greg Koupe but I know a bit about him. He is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery near my home. I drive near his grave almost every day on my way to lunch. He apparently died in a sapper attack on his firebase since his official cause of death is listed as "other explosive device."
Like me, he was a Second Class Petty Officer, a pretty good place to be in the Navy. That's the Army and Marine Corps equivalent of a buck sergeant. And, like so many of us back then, he was a part of the Navy that supported the Marine Corps in one way or another, in his case serving with them in the field under fire.
I know that Greg Koupe was probably well thought of in his unit because notice of donations to various Marine Corp causes still show up in the "Old Breed News." They read something like, "In memory of my friend, HM2 Greg Koupe."
We Viet Nam Era Veterans are getting old now. The current generation knows almost nothing about us or our war and what they do "know" is usually wrong. John Kennedy sent our best and brightest to a place where they should never have gone and they performed brilliantly and loyally. They won every battle but lost the war, not to the communists, but rather to our own domestic enemy, the foul smelling, hippy, communist loving, treasonous American left, who turned on those who served them so well, demonized them and eventually drove them into hiding for simply doing their duty.
I chose to put a face on my remembrance of those brave men who died unappreciated in a war nobody wanted. That face is Greg Koupe. And when I wear that bracelet with his name on it, I am reminded that by the grace of God, I got to come home and live the life that was denied to him. I got to fly the freedom bird, see my wife and kid again, get a job, go to college and do all of the other things that were denied to him.
A moment's remembrance when I wear the bracelet is a small token to offer for the price he paid.
