By Mike Hazlip—
Tucked away in a small strip mall on Auburn Boulevard is Norca Army Navy, a store with military surplus equipment, some history, and even a little mystery.
Owner Jeff Cooper opened the store almost 20 years ago and has strong family ties to the military. His grandparents were both active during WWII, and his father, Norman Charles Cooper, was a Vietnam veteran.
Cooper told The Sentinel in a recent interview that he wanted to enlist after high school, but cut-backs during the Clinton administration meant the physical requirements were more strict. With some hearing loss in one ear, Cooper said he didn’t qualify.
His father passed away nearly two decades ago, and while he wasn’t able to follow in his father’s footsteps in the military, Cooper keeps his memory alive through the surplus store he owns. A photograph of his dad carrying a heavy machine gun through the Vietnam jungle hangs prominently in the store.
He says his father never talked much about his experiences in Vietnam, so Cooper has been trying to piece together the details his father left out of the stories he told.
“I had lots of details on all the stories, but I didn’t have any details of missions or anything like that,” Cooper said.
Through interacting with customers, many of whom are veterans, Cooper has been able to piece together some of the details, but not all.
“I don’t have any proof of any of it. I just have the different people that I’ve spoke to over the years that were there that did similar stuff.”
Cooper’s father received two purple hearts, he said. One was from being hit by a mortar round that exploded near him, and Cooper said he would see specks of blood on his father’s arm as bits of shrapnel worked their way through his skin.
“He was a plasterer so he was always moving mud around,” Cooper said. I think just his muscles working, it would work through and I would see little spots of blood on his white t-shirt.”
It wasn’t until a customer came to buy a belt one day that Cooper discovered another piece of the puzzle. The customer had an insignia for the 101st airborne, the same division Cooper’s father was in.
Cooper discovered the customer had been to Camp Eagle, the same camp as his father. They looked through an old photo album, and the customer helped Cooper place several of the photos.
The customer said he would try to find out more information, but later returned and said the records were sealed.
“Part of me wants to believe my dad was into something bigger and better to help the people over there and help the cause,” Cooper said, but he admits those war stories can become exaggerated as time passes.
In his search to learn more about his father’s service in Vietnam, Cooper recalled his father described using what he thought was “Lurp tape.” It wasn’t until another veteran put one more piece of the puzzle together that Cooper realized “LRRP tape” was similar to duct tape, and used by Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols. These were special units tasked with patrols deep in Viet Cong territory.
Turning a page in an album, Cooper showed a photograph of his father with what looked like a Vietnamese village leader and another man, Caucasian, with bushy blond hair and no uniform, standing together. Cooper said his father never said what the meeting was for, but with the help of other veterans, he believes the man with blond hair might have been a CIA agent.
As for his father’s history, Cooper says he may never know the whole story. A few weeks after his father died, Cooper says his family received a package in the mail. It was a letter from the White House thanking him for his service and it was personally signed by then President George W. Bush. That letter now hangs next to the photograph of Cooper’s father on the wall of Norca Army Navy.
Editor’s Note: Part two of this story will be published in The Sentinel’s Nov. 14th Weekend Edition.
