Jim Hooper

Jim Hooper was an American war photojournalist who spent a great deal of time in Africa and is probably most well known as the author of Koevoet, about the legendary counter-terrorist unit of the South West African Police. He deployed twice with the unit, was twice wounded and “casevaced”, and was the only foreign journalist ever allowed to deploy with the unit. Jim was awarded a Border Service Medal by the Commissioner of the South African Police. Hooper also spent time following PMC Executive Outcomes around during their time in Angola and Sierra Leone and published a book on that period.

Jim Hooper came from an American military family. His father was a Navy fighter pilot who flew fighter planes from an aircraft carrier during World War II and Korea. His younger brother Bill flew in Vietnam, was shot down, and seriously injured. Jim volunteered to serve in the US Army Special Forces; however, the Army decided he had a talent that could be better used for their intelligence purposes. He ended up studying Russian learned to do radio interception during the Vietnam War, and was later stationed in Germany during the Cold War.

Since Jim was enthusiastic about parachuting, he started a parachute training school in Florida after leaving the Army. He trained the first group of Seal Team 6 HALO instructors at the request of Richard Marcinko (founder of Seal Team 6). Jim once hosted the world parachute tournament at his flying school. The Chinese team leader objected to South African participation, to which Jim told him through an interpreter to withdraw his team if he felt like it, RSA stays!

In late 2022, Jim was diagnosed with a cancerous growth in his bladder. Although it was successfully removed, the cancer had spread by then through his lymphatic system and he was given the option to take chemotherapy, which he did. He endured two rounds, the second worse than the first, but after that point he was informed there was nothing more that could be done for him and that he might have six to ten additional months before he would need palliative care. Jim passed away Friday, January 11, 2024.