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Hundreds Gather Outside State Capitol To Honor Utah Marine

Family members and friends of fallen Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover arrived in Utah Sunday for a memorial vigil. Hundreds of Utahns, many carrying American flags, greeted them by chanting “U-S-A.”

Several of Hoover's friends and family spoke along with Governor Spencer Cox. Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and Utah's congressional delegation were in attendance as well.

 

Hoover died during the suicide bombing in Afghanistan on August 26 at the age of 31. He was the oldest American killed in the attack.

 

One of Hoover’s closest friends, Kayleigh Snedger, says he was one of the best people she’s ever met and “he was the kindest soul.”

 

A GoFundMe page has been set up by Marines who served with Hoover.

Tyler Hewitt is the web/social media assistant at UPR. He writes stories every day, updates the website and manages the station's Twitter and Facebook pages. Tyler is a senior at Utah State University and is studying public relations, marketing, and psychology. He loves to write, listen to music, play video games, play tennis and hang out with his fiancé and cat, Juno. He is a great plant dad and recently started collecting vinyl records!