LONGPORT – Unlike the past dozen recipients of the Longport American Legion’s Wounded Warrior Week honor, this year’s honoree does not have a Purple Heart. But over his 23 years as a member of the U.S. Air Force, Master Sgt. (Ret.) Roger Lozano Hopkins, has accumulated injuries during extreme situations in combat zones, including more than 1,000 parachute jumps.
Hopkins, who along with his family will be welcomed from their home in Ft. Worth, Texas, for a weeklong all-expenses-paid vacation at the Jersey shore on Sept. 24, completed nine combat deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, and provided rescue and recovery support for NASA’s four space shuttle launches. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he retrained as an elite pararescueman and conducted extreme rescue operations for the 38th Rescue Squadron and 24th Special Tactics Squadron.
The recipient of the Bronze Star and numerous other medals and awards, Hopkins earned a gold medal for swimming breaststroke in the 2019 Department of Defense Warrior Games setting a still undefeated record, and he represented the U.S. in the 2020 Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands.
He enlisted in the Air Force in 1997 from Browns Mills, completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, graduated Technical School in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, and served his first duty station as a maintainer for fighting jets out of Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia. In 2000, he was reclassified into the USAF Honor Guard at Boling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., where he served the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs at the Pentagon.
While in Longport, Hopkins and his wife Betsy, who is still serving in the U.S. Navy, their two adult children Curtis and Colby, and their service dog Hoku, will be recognized for their service to America with a surprise homecoming parade through Ventnor, Margate and Longport, and a week’s worth of activities, dinners and entertainment provided through the generosity of local residents, businesses and veterans.
Residents are encouraged to line the parade route along the entire length of Dorset and Atlantic avenues as it travels from Ski Beach to Longport starting at 5:30 p.m. Those lining the parade route are encouraged to show their patriotic spirit by waving American flags and holding up handmade signs thanking Hopkins for his service.
Weather related updates will be posted on the Longport Borough Hall Facebook page and on the www.longportnj.gov website.
https://downbeach.com/news/2024/aug/23/longport-american-legion-announces-this-years-wounded-warrior-week-recipient/
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