Spirit of fallen digger Corporal Mat Hopkins lives on through his son

LITTLE Alex Hopkins only had four days in his dad’s arms before his father made the ultimate sacrifice.

LITTLE Alex Hopkins only had four days in his dad’s arms before his father made the ultimate sacrifice.

Five years on, Alex is the spitting image of his brave dad, Corporal Mat “Hoppy” Hopkins, and his mum Victoria is making sure her boy never forgets the man who helped bring him into the world.

Today Alex will don his dad’s bravery medals and he and his mum will march proudly in their local Anzac Day service.

Corporal Mathew Hopkins with his new born son Alex.

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Corporal Mathew Hopkins is farewelled by comrades in Afghanistan.

Cpl Hopkins had returned home briefly midway through his deployment to Afghanstan in 2009 to marry his sweetheart Victoria and meet his first-born son, getting a cuddle and even changing a nappy before returning to the front line.

The 21-year-old new father was killed barely five weeks later in intense insurgent fire.

In the years that have passed, five-year-old Alex has reached milestone after milestone, like learning to walk and talk and his first day of school, without his dad.

“Every time he sees a photo he says ‘that’s my daddy’ – it’s very bittersweet,” Mrs Hopkins said.

“He knows who Mat is and what he was doing there … I’ve told him that Daddy was in the army and fighting against the bad people.”

She said her son was becoming more like Cpl Hopkins every day.

“They’re both stubborn, pig-headed and arrogant and tenacious,” she laughed.

Cpl Hopkins was killed on March 16, 2009, during a joint patrol near Kakarak, 12km north of the Australian base at Tarin Kowt.

Victoria Hopkins and Alex, now 5. Pic Mark Calleja

An inquiry later found the Brisbane man’s unit had opened fire on a party of insurgents. In the ensuing firefight the 21-year-old was shot.

A combat medic dashed 60m under intense fire to help him but he died shortly afterwards.

Mrs Hopkins said Alex had begun asking more questions but so far, all she wanted him to know was that his father, a former Kenmore High School student, had saved lives.

Mrs Hopkins visited Afghanistan last year, even seeing where her husband had slept on the base. “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity … I felt like I got my closure just from looking at Mat’s old room.”

She said she had taken Alex to an Anzac service every year since his birth and today would be no different