A farewell befitting a veteran

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A farewell befitting a veteran


06/05/03


Robert Cochran, a decorated World War II veteran, was nearly memorialized with nothing more than a pauper?s funeral.

But thanks to the efforts of a few friends, Cochran was finally laid to rest Wednesday with all the fanfare befitting a Marine veteran of the Pacific Theater, including a 21-gun salute and flag presentation.

More than 100 people came to Mountain View Memorial Park in Marietta on Wednesday to pay their respects to the 82-year-old Kennesaw resident, buried with full military honors.

Those honors almost never happened. Since his April 5 death in a Marietta nursing home, Cochran?s body went unclaimed in the county morgue and was slated for a pauper?s burial.

With no blood relatives claiming Cochran?s body, friend Cliff Hicks worked to secure the kind of burial he knew C
ochran wanted.

?He?s a very patriotic person,? Hicks said. ?Just about every conversation centered around the military. I wish I had taped them now that I look back.?

Cochran and Hicks became friends as co-workers at Jim Tidwell Ford in Kennesaw, where Cochran was a salesman. Since Cochran did not have any immediate family in the area, Hicks treated the ex-Marine as one of his family, visiting him often at his house.

?I really felt honored because I was one of the few who went to see him regularly,? Hicks said.

He said that Cochran never missed a patriotic parade and decorated his house with Marine Corps memorabilia. He also collected boxes and boxes of baseball cards, Hicks said.

?He never m
et a stranger. If he walked into a restaurant, he spoke to everyone,? he said.

Dell Whitaker, who met Cochran during a Christmas visit to the nursing home, also worked to make sure he received a proper military burial.

?This is a really tragic situation,? Mrs. Whitaker said. ?I just know that this man deserves this.?

Mrs. Whitaker, a Cobb County Internal Affairs Department employee, said she often goes to nursing homes in the Christmas season to visit with local veterans.

Cochran, a Minnesota native, joined the Marine Corps in 1941 and served as a machine gunner in the 3rd Marine Division at the Bouganville campaign and at Guadalcanal. After serving security duty in Washington, D.C., Cochran was honorably discharged in 1945.

For his service, Cochran was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, Asiatic Pacific Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

His brother, Richard, also served during World War II and is the most heavily decorated noncommissioned officer in the state of Georgia, Mrs. Whitaker said.

Cochran?s health began to fail after the death of his wife, Barbara, about two and a half years ago, Hicks said.

Hicks said Cochran had already had the burial site in Mountain View Memorial Park next to his wife. Hicks then began working with Cochran?s next of kin, a son in Chicago, to arrange for the burial.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Whitaker began talking with Veterans Affairs officials to make sure Cochran was buried with all the ceremony she believes veterans deserve.

?These vets deserve to have everything we can give them because of the sacrifices they made for us,? she said. ?I?ll do anything for any military person. I really hold them up on a pedestal.?

Hicks said his friend would have been proud.

?I think he?d be very proud of what happened,? Hicks said. ?I think he was looking down smiling.?

Rev. Don Holloway performed the graveside service. Holloway, who volunteers as a Cobb County police chaplain, said the service has a personal meaning for him.

?My father was his age to the very year,? Holloway said. ?These men are heroes and they fought a very difficult war.?

Cochran?s funeral expenses will be paid from money from his wife?s insurance policy.