Quincy’s fallen heroes honored on Memorial Day

Quincy leaders honored the city’s fallen soldiers during a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.

Gold Star family members filled the commission chamber at city hall for the event.

The United States Department of Defense also issues Gold Star lapel pins to immediate family members of a fallen service member of the military; these pins are worn by spouses, parents, and children of service members killed in the line of duty and contain a gold star on a purple circular background.

Commissioner Angela Grant Sapp said the ceremony was a way to pay homage to veterans from Quincy who died in service.

Sapp said there are about 2,000 Gold Star Veterans from Florida, 79 from Gadsden County, but only 11 from inside the Quincy city limits.

The following soldiers were honored:

Staff Sergeant Alto Anderson, Jr. (Vietnam War, Army)

Merchant Seaman Eri Festus Dean (World War II, Marine)

Major William Whitby Duck (Vietnam War, Air Force)

Petty Officer Second Class Reliford Fields (World War II, Navy)

Corporal Paul Douglas Flournoy (Vietnam War, Army)

Private First Class Gary Edward Howard (Vietnam War, Army)

Lieutenant Oliver T. Keown (World War I, Army)

Private John Madra (World War I, Army)

Enlisted Joseph Robert Newberry (World War II, Navy)

Specialist IV Jack Allan Peacock (Vietnam War, Army)

Private First Class Rosevelt Simmons, Jr. (Vietnam War, Army).

Emma Jones is emotional as she shares memories from the last time she saw her older brother, Private First Class Rosevelt Simmons, Jr.

Tani Howard Norman shares passed-down memories of her father, Private First Class Gary Edward Howard as he is honored on Memorial Day.

The veterans’ family members were given an opportunity to speak.

Petty Officer Second Class Field’s niece Joyce Fields Redding said more than 2,400 Americans died at Pearl Harbor, but only one from Gadsden County was serving on the U.S. Arizona.

That one was her uncle.

She said she doesn’t remember how he looked, or too much more about him.

“All I can remember is a man carrying me to the train station,” Redding said as she recalled the day her uncle left for war.

Redding’s body was never recovered.

The ship he was on was never brought back up because it was so badly damaged, Redding said.

Redding said growing up, she heard stories of why her uncle wanted to join the military.

“He said if I die, I help my momma; if I live, I help my momma,” Redding said.

Field’s mother was a widow.

Redding said her grandmother received her uncle’s pension for more than 20 years, up until her death in 1968.

Tani Howard Norman, the daughter of First-Class Gary Edward Howard, doesn’t have any memories of her father - she was three when he left for war.

“Even up until a few years ago I knew he went to the army, and he didn’t come back,” Norman said.

But she didn’t know much more than that.

Norman said she has memories of her father that were passed on to her, but she said it was too painful for her grandmother to talk about her father.

She said she recently got a chance to meet some of the men who served with her father.

She said one told her after they came back from Combat Howard could be found in a bunk with a Bible in his hand.

Emma Jones became emotional while remembering her oldest brother Private First-Class Rosevelt Simmons, Jr.

“This [event] is something my momma would have been very proud of,” Jones said. “She always wanted to attend something like this.”

Her mother, Charity Simmons died almost two years ago.

She said her brother, who was four years older than her, was only 19 years old when he died in combat.

Jones said her brother also made that sacrifice so his family could have a better life.

“That’s how she was able to get a better home and move away from the farm,” Jones said about her mother.

She then recalled the last time she saw her brother.

“He said, “Don’t cry because they say if you cry, I won’t come back,”’ Jones said. “That was the last day I saw him.

During the ceremony Commissioner announced that memorial markers will be installed on Patton and Third streets to honor the two of the slain war heroes

Signs will be put up on Third Street to honor Fields, and signs will also be put up on Patton Street to honor Howard.

Shortly before 3 p.m. the ceremony was paused as the city participated in Taps Across America.

According to Tapsforveterans.org, the National Moment of Remembrance is an annual event that asks Americans, wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, to pause for a duration of one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States.

Erin Hill - erin@gadsdencountytimes.com

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Quincy’s fallen heroes honored on Memorial Day

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County to apply for annual grant to assist with affordable housing, economic development

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