City of Jacksonville honors fallen heroes during Memorial Day Observance Program

Across the United States today, services are being held to honor the courageous men and women who died selflessly serving our country.

Right here in Jacksonville, the city honored local men and women for the first time since the pandemic began in person.

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During the Memorial Day Observance program, four names were added to the Veteran’s Memorial Wall.

Action News Jax attended the ceremony, which served as a humble reminder that we must never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

The names on the Veteran’s Memorial Wall help us to honor the service and commitment of the men and women who died to protect the freedoms we enjoy.

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Today, one of the names that were added was Calvin T. Rockward III. He served in the U.S. Army, he was a W-01 and a Green Beret.

“It’s been 8 months since he passed away,” Charles Rockward, Jr., told Cole.

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Rockward, Jr., misses his son Calvin, every day.

“He would call me and say Dad—thank you so much. Thank you so much for being there,” Rockward, Jr., said Calvin’s mother, brother and sister were a big part of Calvin’s support system too.

Rockward, Jr. said it really warmed his heart to see how many people attended today’s program.

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“I can’t put it into words. It just really felt—felt good to know that him being memorialized on the wall, he will always here and the City of Jacksonville will always be here for him,” Rockward, Jr. said.

Calvin’s father spoke during the program after a wreath was presented in his son’s honor.

While it’s not always easy to get up in front of a crowd—it was a conversation he had with his son about never giving up— that encouraged him, as he made his way to the podium.

“When he was going through Green Beret training and he wanted to quit, and I told him—I told him, he was telling me how everybody else around him were falling out, were quitting and that he just couldn’t. He said ‘Dad, ‘I can’t do it no more.’ And I told him I said son, I said, ‘Son, do not quit, because you do not know just how close you are to that finish line.’ And for me, he took that and he ran with it, and he graduated and the rest is history…And that memory, when I came up today— here—and went up to speak, that memory kept with me— don’t quit. You can do this, dad.’”

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Rockward, Jr.’s son was one of the four people whose names were added to the Jacksonville Veteran’s Memorial Wall.

Christian M. Tette, who served in the U.S. Army, and Adam D. Pecaut and Michael L. Jordan, who served in the U.S. Navy, also had their names added to the memorial wall.

As Brigadier General Calvert L. Worth, Jr., one of the keynote speakers from today’s program said, “Memorial Day is a reminder that we are our best when we commit to being a part of something bigger than ourselves.”

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