Joseph H. "Jody" Pierce Jr.

One of 11 children, Jody Pierce dropped out of Andrew Jackson High School to support his family before enlisting in the U.S. Army at 19, volunteering for the paratroopers after boot camp. He served with the Army's famed 173rd Airborne Brigade, which made the only combat jump during the Vietnam War.

Sgt. Pierce was killed in combat on Feb. 22, 1969, at the age 20, while attempting to save a wounded paratrooper in his squad. For his heroic actions, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and posthumously promoted to staff sergeant. His young wife, Janet, and son were living on Hopkins Street in Neptune Beach at the time of his death. A street sign on the corner of Hopkins and 3rd Street North was dedicated in his memory in December 2022. His polished granite headstone at Warren Smith Cemetery is engraved with the epitaph, “To the world he was just one, but to me he was the whole world.”

"Testament to a Trooper," The Beaches Leader, Nov. 10, 2004, by Johnny Woodhouse, associate editor

Fallen Wartime Veterans Street Sign Program