Leon Cooper, a World War II veteran, died on Nov. 16 due to an unrecoverable fall. He was 98 years old.
Cooper was a 22-year-old Higgins Boat commander at the battle of Tarawa (known as “Bloody Tarawa”) in the Gilbert Islands, fought from Nov. 20-23 in 1943. More than 65 years later, he returned to the scene in 2007 help with the documentary “Return to Tarawa: The Leon Cooper Story.” The documentary was sold to the Discovery Military Channel.
In an interview with The Malibu Times in 2008, Cooper said he hadn’t “slept through the night in more than 60 years.”
He used the documentary as a way to find servicemen’s remains, clean up the Red Beach (where the battle took place), build a waste treatment plant and install a Marine Corps memorial.
The veteran is survived by five children and several grandchildren.