Ben Kopp Memorial Fund

WHO IS BEN?

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Ben Kopp grew up as the only child of his single mother, Jill. He spent a great deal of time at the lake home of his great grandparents in northern Minnesota. Leroy Rogers, a WWII veteran was known affectionately to his grandchildren as Ay-Yi. He was Jill's grandfather and Ben's great grandfather. From a very young age Ben took notice of his curio cabinet of memorabilia from his time in service. In addition to several photographs, there was a purple heart and a bronze star. Ben came to worship the ground that Ay-yi walked on, hung on his every word and wanted to grow up and be just like him. He admired his wisdom, humor, strength and grit. He became the strongest male role model that Ben had and was a real life hero to him. When Ay-yi died at age 82 in the spring of 2001, Ben was devastated. It was the first death he had experienced. He told Jill he didn't want to talk about it because it hurt too much. He stayed virtually silent for five months: until September 11th. By this time Ben was a thirteen year-old eighth grader in Rosemount, Minnesota. Watching the coverage of the terrorist attacks on American soil turned Ben's great sadness into a burning desire for revenge. He took it personal as he believed the deaths of innocent Americans at the hand of terrorists was a mockery of his great grandfathers service during WWII. He made a declaration that when he was old enough he was going to become an Army Ranger, find Osama bin Laden and make him pay. Anybody who knew Ben at this age, knew he was the guy who would join the Army and be gone immediately after high school. Ben's burning desire for revenge would become the true north of his life. September 11, 2001 became the daily compass that never pointed in any other direction but towards the military. One month after he graduated from high school he was on his way to train with the Infantry of the United States Army at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Seven months later, with a tremendous sense of grit and dogged determination, Ben had met all the requirements needed to become the elite army ranger he had declared he would five years earlier as a thirteen year-old. He was assigned to the third ranger battalion at Ft. Benning where he quickly became every bit of the man he wanted to become. Being a ranger was a dream for Ben. He had fought for and earned the coveted title and he was proud. Just under three years later, with two deployments to Iraq under his belt, Ben was on his way to Afghanistan. Halfway through this deployment Ben was called forward as a gun team leader to rescue six of his brothers in arms who were pinned down by an enemy sniper. Ben's tenacity and willingness to fight to the death for his brothers got them to safety, however, in that firefight, he took a bullet to the leg. He underwent surgery to remove the bullet, but the injury and trauma to his body were too much. Eight days later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, Ben was declared brain dead and removed from life support. In addition to saving his six ranger brothers, upon his death he donated his organs, bone, skin and tissue. He directly saved the lives of four people with the donation of his heart, kidneys and liver and enhanced the lives of fifty-five more with the donation of his bone, skin and tissue. He lives on in the hearts of all who knew and loved him and literally in those who received his organs. He was twenty-one when he died. He lived a full life in those short years and accomplished more than most will in a lifetime of many more years than what he got.

In life and in death, Ben is a hero.