It’s impossible to know what the families of soldiers lost in Afghanistan are experiencing but that isn’t stopping community members from wanting to show their condolences and support. Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover was one of the Marines killed outside the Kabul airport on August 26th. His father, Darin Hoover, is a deputy with the Daggett County Sheriff’s Office. He shared in an interview with KSL that his son wanted to serve his country from a young age. “He was helping those that were less fortunate, those that can’t help themselves…[which was] the one thing that he always wanted to do,” he shared in the interview. “When 9/11 happened, [Taylor] was only 11 years old and at that point he’d already made up his mind at 11 [to serve]. He just didn’t know which way he was gonna go. By the time…the recruiters came into the high school, and I don’t know what it was about the Marine Corp, but that’s what he wanted…I asked him to wait until he was 19 so he could sign the paperwork himself…He waited until he was 19, enlisted, and here we are.” Three of Staff Sgt. Hoover’s fellow Marines set up a GoFund me to help the family with burial and other expenses as well as to erect a statue in his honor in his home town of Sandy, Utah. The GoFund me page is titled ‘Memorial Fund US Marine SSgt Taylor Hoover’. Sales at www.srvsgear.com of the ‘Ssgt Hoover Memorial Tee’ will also benefit the family.
