​Thank A Vet Grady Cooper - Qualified Member of the Engine Department (QMED) Merchant Marine

Grady Cooper joined the US Coast Guard in 1940 and was transferred to the Merchant Marine. Grady became a Qualified Member of the Engine Department (QMED) after training in Sheepshead Bay, New York City. On his first tour of duty, it was Grady’s responsibility to fire the ship’s boiler and keep it going for the entire mission. Grady later became an oiler, responsible for lubricating the ship’s bearings.

Grady served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. His ships, the SS Dobytown, SS Ohio, SS French Creek often transported gasoline to our military in the European theater of war during World War II. Grady was in the Indian Ocean enroute to Okinawa when the war ended and he was sent back home. He was discharged in 1942.

When he returned from the service, Grady went to work at his father’s company, H.W. Cooper & Sons. The company operated a cement block plant and 4 sand and gravel plants. H.W. Cooper & Sons had the area’s first cement block machine, purchased from Sears Roebuck Company in 1922, which could produce 600 cement blocks per day. The company also had the area’s first cement mixer truck and bulldozer. The Coopers opened their cement block plant in 1948. Grady started driving a lime truck when he was about 10 years old and took over the family business, then called Cooper Brothers in 1973. Grady Cooper ran the company until 1985, at which time Cooper Brothers employed 65 people and was producing approximately 1 million cement blocks per year at a rate of 10,000 per day.

Grady was married to his wife Helen for 52 years until she passed way in 1994. Grady, who is now 94 years old, has 3 children, 7 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren and 2 great, great-grandchildren.

Our deepest gratitude to Grady Cooper and all veterans who have served our Country.