• Aug. 11, 1921 – March 22, 1945
  • Blount County, Tennessee
• Engineering – 1939-1941
• 2nd LT – Marine Corps
  • Naval Air Training Center in Pensacola, Florida
  • Distinguished Flying Cross with Gold Star
• Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMF) 115, Marine Air Grp 12, 1st Marine Air Wing. KIA while on a bombing run near Zamboanga, Mindanao.
  • Philippines, F4U Corsair
• Magnolia Cemetery in Maryville, Tennessee

Marion Brown Cooper (Aug. 11, 1921 – March 22, 1945) was born in Blount County, Tennessee. He attended the University of Tennessee for Engineering from 1939 to 1941. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, but was placed under flight training in their air wing at the Naval Air Training Center at Pensacola, Florida. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and sent to the Pacific Theater flying a F4U Corsair for the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, Marine Air Group 12 in the 1st Marine Air Wing. 2nd Lt. Cooper was deployed with the 115 during the retaking of the Philippines in 1945. They were flying out of a recently taken airfield at Zamboanga in Mindanao, Philippines, when 2nd Lt. Cooper was killed in action on March 22, 1945. While conducting close-ground bombing operations, 2nd Lt. Cooper’s F4U suffered a catastrophic malfunction and stalled out with only 150 feet of altitude, and he was killed when it crashed in the nearby forest. 2nd Lt. Marion B. Cooper is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Maryville, Tennessee.

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