HUGO (AP) -- Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian K. Joplin,
who died during a training mission in the Middle East, was remembered at funeral services
Wednesday as a jovial mechanic
who was comfortable working on
everything from a superior's car
to a vintage B-25 bomber.
"Pilots get all the glory and
mechanics rarely get the credit," Master
Chief Petty Officer Jon Port
told more than
100 people in
the Miller and
Miller Funeral
Home Chapel.
"That's how
Brian was. He
was a behind-the-scenes guy."
Joplin, 32, was born in Hugo
and graduated from high school
here. He most recently lived in
Corpus Christi, Texas, with his
wife and two daughters, ages 8
and 11.
He fell out of a MH-53 helicopter in the Central Arabian
Gulf, the Defense Department
said. He fell from a trap door
and his harness broke.
Joplin took special pleasure in
working on a vintage aircraft of
the type his grandfather piloted
during World War II.
Port said Joplin had fun flying
in the aircraft he repaired. "He
had a grin from ear to ear," Port
said.
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class
Johnny Ramirez said Joplin liked
to joke around.
"He was a prankster and always up to something and he always had that grin on," Ramirez
said, breaking down in tears.
Joplin was an avid Oklahoma
Sooners fan. An OU banner was
displayed at the funeral service
and the OU fight song was
played.
"He loved his wife and kids,
but most of all he loved his
Sooner football," Ramirez said.
Joplin is to be buried in Nogales, Ariz., where his wife, Belinda, is from. Joplin's mother
and one of his sisters were
killed recently in a car crash in
Ada. He is survived by two
brothers, a sister and his father.
