Lance Cpl. Scott Harper, 21, Douglas County Marine killed in Afghanistan

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By Michelle E. Shaw

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Lance Cpl. Scott Harper’s high school nickname was Boots.

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Lance Cpl. Scott Daniel Harper, of Winston, died Oct. 13 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations. He was 21.

Harper family Lance Cpl. Scott Daniel Harper, of Winston, died Oct. 13 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations. He was 21.

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Coincidentally, Lance Cpl. Harper, who had been deployed to Afghanistan for the past four months, was expecting a new pair in the mail, said his father, Brian Harper.

“He had ordered himself a new pair of combat boots and had them shipped to his grandmother’s home,” said Mr. Harper, who lives in Carrollton. “I was supposed to send them to him. I mailed them on a Tuesday.”

Lance Cpl. Scott Daniel “Boots” Harper, of Winston, died two days later on Oct. 13 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. He was 21. A funeral service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, at Ephesus Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Ephesus Baptist Church Cemetery with full military honors. Whitley-Garner at Rosehaven is in charge of arrangements.

Lance Cpl. Harper graduated from Douglas County’s Alexander High School in 2008. He was on the golf team for four years and had a good game, his former coach Rick Blackstone said.

Around Alexander High, everybody knew Boots, said Chad Jenkins, a friend of Lance Cpl. Harper. He was “that guy,” Mr. Jenkins said.

“You know, the guy who wanted to be friends with everybody, and everybody wanted to be friends with him,” Mr. Jenkins said.

Brian Harper said his son, “wanted to be a Marine because he believed they were the best. You know, the few the chosen … and that’s what he wanted to be, one of the few and the chosen.”

Lance Cpl. Harper was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to the Pentagon. This was not his first deployment to Afghanistan, his father said. He’d been in March 2010 and returned seven months later.

Mr. Harper said he and his son communicated often via Facebook during deployments. He’d look a the pictures Lance Cpl. Harper posted and they’d chat often. That’s how he knew his son had received a special package sent just after Lance Cpl. Harper left.

“He was serious about his guitar playing, so he asked me to send it to him,” his father said. “I saw pictures of it on Facebook and a lot of his friends had signed it. There were signatures all over it.”

Mr. Harper is anticipating the return of the guitar, which he says he will treasure forever, just like he does the last conversation he had with his son.

“The last time I talked to him was the Saturday before he died,” Mr. Harper said. “He had called and asked me if the boots had arrived and I told him they had.”

Mr. Harper said he went to the post office as promised, and mailed to boots, along with a few snacks and other little things that would fit in the box.

“I don’t think the boots had time to leave the country before he died,” his father said. “I boxed them up and mailed them on a Tuesday and he died on a Thursday,”

Lance Cpl. Harper is also survived by his mother, Deborah Busbin Staples of Villa Rica; brother, Mitchell Staples of Cobb County; sister, Amber Staples of Villa Rica; stepmother Angela Harper of Carrollton; stepbrother, Joseph Hulsey of Carroll County; stepsister Holly Harpe, of Carrollton; paternal grandmother, Diana Harper of Winston; maternal grandparents, J. R. ‘Buzz’ and Janet Busbin of Villa Rica and maternal great-grandmother, Era Streetman of Villa Rica.