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Corporal killed in combat in Afghanistan

A corporal deployed with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Afghanistan was killed in combat Monday, Marine officials said.

Cpl. William J. Cooper, 22, of Europa, Miss., died in Helmand province, where the 24th MEU has been fighting insurgents for several weeks.

He was assigned to Weapons Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, and based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., II Marine Expeditionary Force officials at Lejeune said Tuesday in a statement.

Cooper’s father, Alan Cooper of Webster County, Miss., told the Starkville Daily News of Mississippi that Cooper was hit with small-arms fire that went through his arm and chest, around his body armor. His spotter was also wounded, Cooper’s father told the newspaper.

Cooper joined the Corps on Dec. 27, 2004, and joined 1/6 on March 3, 2006, the statement said. He was promoted to corporal Aug. 1 and had received the Good Conduct Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Iraq Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Global War on Terrorism Medal, as well as two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.

Last week, another member of Cooper’s company, Lance Cpl. Sam Hansen, was shot in the head by an insurgent in Garmser, a town in Helmand where Marines have faced fierce opposition from the Taliban. Hansen’s helmet slowed the bullet, but he sustained bruising and swelling of the brain and bullet fragments in his scalp. The wound required stitches. He has been sent back to the U.S., Marine officials said.

At least three Marines have been killed in Afghanistan since about 2,300 Marines with the Camp Lejeune-based 24th MEU deployed there in March. The unit was sent as part of a “one-time, seven-month” assignment to quell an expected insurgent offensive in southern Afghanistan this spring, officials have said.