THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605250182
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: On Memorial Day: Remembering fallen heroes
SOURCE: Janie Bryant
LENGTH: 63 lines
We will cherish the memory of your loved ones, honor their heroic service and strive to build a future worthy of their sacrifice.
- President Clinton, in a February
statement honoring those who died in the Persian Gulf War
Sometimes Carrie Caldwell Hawkins drives past the peaceful, tree-lined street that leads to Portsmouth City Park, a street now named for her son.
Other times, she goes to his graveside and talks to him.
And sometimes she feels closest to him in the nail and beauty salon she opened three years ago, the business her son had encouraged her to start before he went off to war.
Cpl. Jonathan M. Williams was sent to Saudi Arabia in January 1991, called up from inactive-reserve status six months after completing his three years of Army service.
He had been there less than a week when the barracks he was assigned to was hit by a Scud missile. The 23-year-old died two days later, one day before the Persian Gulf War ended - the only Hampton Roads resident to be killed in the war.
``It still bothers me,'' says Hawkins, mother of five. ``It's like a dream sort of . . . because he was out for six months, and then they call him back - and for that short time - and then he's gone.
``And it's like I didn't get to hold him. I hugged him when I said good-bye.
``But I still want to hold him.''
In February, Charlotte Carter, Hawkins' daughter, and her family heard retired Army Gen. Colin Powell speak at an annual ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, held to honor those who died during the Persian Gulf War. The ceremony is one of many for veterans sponsored by the No Greater Love organization.
Carter tried to get her mother to go, but it's hard for her. She doesn't like to cry in front of people. She seems almost apologetic when she talks of how she still struggles with her loss.
And for several years, Navy Petty Officer Dana Jackson has held a vigil at Williams' gravesite on the anniversary of his death. Carter and several family members have attended the ceremonies as well.
Each year, Carter says, ``it was either bitter cold, raining or snowing.'' And she marvels at how Jackson and sometimes other veterans stood in such weather for hours, an act of remembrance far beyond what she expected.
``It makes me feel good that they haven't forgotten him, in this day and age . . . ,'' Carter says.
Hawkins appreciates knowing that other people remember her son, too.
She knows that for many people in this country, the meaning of Memorial Day will get lost - amid the kick-off of the summer beach season, plans for a three-day weekend, decisions about who brings what to the family picnic.
She used to look at it the same way.
``Sometimes I think a lot of people want to put it behind them and just forget it,'' she says of the war and the sacrifices made.
Carrie Hawkins doesn't need to set a day aside to remember.
She can never forget. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Carrie Caldwell Hawkins keeps mementoes of her son, Cpl. Jonathan M.
Williams, in view. by CNB