Corporal Hooper was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 4 February 1951 and died while a prisoner on 30 June 1951.

His remains were recovered on 29 May 1992 and identified on 28 September2010. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Hooper was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.