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Veterans share love, fellowship and a lot of remembrances during South Norfolk’s July 4th parade – Daily Press

July 4, 2023

Fathers and sons traded stories and jokes among the crowd lining the streets for the annual South Norfolk Fourth of July parade.

But Gulf War veteran Carl Dozier’s son would not be joining him for the procession Tuesday.

“Independence Day is based on the blood of the patriots who came before,” Dozier, 76, said while wearing a wristband on his left arm featuring his son’s portrait and killed-in-action date.

In January 2008, Jonathan Kilian Dozier, was 30 when he was one of six men killed by an IED hidden within a house during fighting in Sinsil, Iraq. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Johnathan joined a family tradition of military service when he joined Army in 1997, according to his father.

Carl Dozier’s father, Wilbur “Red” Dozier, fought in World War II and Carl’s grandson, Jacob, is in the Coast Guard. Before he was killed, Jonathan was part of the same VFW Post as his father — 2894 — on Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake. The post now bears his name and Carl Dozier was wearing his veteran’s cap and red, white and blue button-up featuring a picture of the Constitution Tuesday.

Carl Dozier, 76, lays out a poster of his son Jonathan who was killed in action in 2008 during an Independence Day cookout at the VFW that bears his name.

“Have we ever been perfect? No. but we constantly move to be that more perfect union,” Dozier said.

Other veterans at the parade agreed.

William Brown, a 68-year-old Army veteran from Norview, followed his older brother Melvin into the military a year after his brother enlisted in 1973. He went on to serve until 1981 when he was medically discharged after carbon monoxide poisoning left him unable to walk. He’s learned to live with his disability, and Tuesday, with the sun shining down, had no complaints

“I still go on with life,” said Brown, with Disabled American Veterans Chapter 26.

He said there are bad current events bringing down Americans today, but we are still able to find the positives and keep building.

Army veteran William Brown participates as a member of the J. Roberts Graham Chapter #26 Disabled American Veterans of Chesapeake, Va. in the South Norfolk July 4th Parade hosted by The South Norfolk Civic League and the Chesapeake Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department in Chesapeake, Va. on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (Tess Crowley / The Virginian-Pilot)

“The United States is a wonderful country, it’s a beautiful country,” Brown said. “It’s a country to serve.”

Fellow area native Charlie Hackman served between 1963 and 1967 and was a B-52 tail turret gunner. Later, he and his wife Dorothy, who grew up in South Norfolk, would found the company now known as Hackworth Graphics which is nearing its 50th year. Hackman said there are many people from all around who come to the South Norfolk community for the parade that celebrates the country’s freedom and work toward a better tomorrow.

“We may have a lot of problems during the year,” he said. But “it all comes together. There’s a lot of love, lot of fellowship, lot of remembrances.”

After the parade, Carl Dozier could be found flanked by friends, family and fellow veterans at the cookout at VFW SSG Jonathan K. Dozier Memorial Post 2984. The community gathered in the former fire station’s emergency bays, surrounded by awards the post has received.

To Carl Dozier, his son well articulated the meaning service and patriotism in a letter he sent back home after deploying.

“It’s believing in something greater than yourself,” Dozier said.