You may have noticed some royal blue street signs around the Beaches dedicated to the memory of local military personnel.
Known as the Fallen Wartime Veterans Street Sign Program, the project is a labor of love for Atlantic Beach resident Lenny Jevic, a historian with Beaches Veterans Memorial Park and a retired U.S. navy command master chief.
Jevic got the idea of honoring Beaches veterans who have died in war with a street sign listing their name, rank, branch of service, and highest military decorations after seeing the same program adopted in his hometown of Edison, N.J.
The street signs, created by Florida Transcor, a traffic safety supply company, are 30 inches in length and sit atop or below existing street signs. Many of the signs are sponsored by area businesses.
Jevic, a former police sergeant in Atlantic Beach, first approached the City of Atlantic Beach with the proposal in 2019. After the City Commission approved the project in October 2020, street signs were installed to memorialize a quartet of World War II servicemen and one Vietnam veteran with ties to the city, including heroic Navy aviator Richard Bull, who died in the South Pacific in 1942.
In October 2020, Jevic brought the street sign program to the attention of the Jacksonville Beach City Council. It was unanimously approved in May 2021 and incorporated into the city’s Honoree Street Sign Ordinance.
The first round of memorial street signs went up in Jacksonville Beach soon afterwards, including two dedicated to the memory of brothers Stanley and Roger Harrell, a pair of U.S. Marines who died in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, respectively.
But Jevic didn’t stop there. Within weeks of Jacksonville Beach approving the street sign program, he pitched it to the City of Neptune Beach. A resolution was quickly passed authorizing the placement of signs at four locations around the city, including on the corner of Hopkins Street, the last home of record for Army Staff Sgt. Jody Pierce, a decorated paratrooper who lost his life in Vietnam.
A second round of signs may be going up in Jacksonville Beach later this year, including one for Marine Cpl. Marcus Preudhomme, a 2004 Fletcher High School grad who died in Iraq in 2008. Each colorful street sign in Jacksonville Beach includes a scannable QR code that can be read by a Smartphone and links to bios of each recipient. Bios are also located at jacksonvillebeach.org, under Parks & Recreation.
Join speaker Dr. Keri Watson and learn about the art movements behind the Beaches Museum’s beloved Bachus painting and other pieces in collections, which will be on display for a limited show.
Join us for Beaches Book Day, our first-ever special gathering of several local and visiting authors whose works explore our rich Beaches area history and culture.
This program examines the slow growth of democracy in Florida. Starting in Spanish colonial Florida, Dr. Steve Noll looks at how the actions of political leaders and grass-roots activists have worked to increase the ideas and notions of democracy, a continuing process.
Join us for a special Boardwalk Talk celebrating the 40th anniversary of Mayo Clinic in Florida and the release of Virginia Wright Peterson’s Mayo Clinic in Florida: A Legacy of Dedication, Innovation, and Excellence.
In 1972, Private Judy Teate completed her basic training at the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) Center at Fort McClellan, Alabama, becoming the third of her four sisters to join the military during the Vietnam War era.
A 1970 graduate of Fletcher High School, where she participated in school plays and chorus, Teate enjoyed writing poetry and was affectionately regarded as the baby of the family, according to her big sister Billie Harbison.
“Everybody who knew her loved her and only had good things to say about her,” said Harbison, who served as an Army nurse from 1968-1973. “I would do anything for Judy.”
While at Fort McClellan, Teate received instruction in Army history and traditions, administrative proceedings, military justice, first-aid, and field training.
Created in 1942 to free up more men for combat roles, the women’s branch of the U.S. Army gained official military status in 1943.
More than 150,000 women served in the WAC during World War II, including Teate’s mother, Alice, a former WAC recruiter from 1943-1946.
“Growing up, we heard about her adventures as a WAC, so when the time came, we decided to do our part,” recalled Harbison, a former Army sergeant. “We were not particularly fond of the Vietnam War, but we wanted to be nurses and that’s what we did.”
WACs Capable Young Women
After her boyfriend was drafted, Marjorie Teate, a 1968 Flether High grad, was the first of her sisters to volunteer for the WAC. Harbison followed suit in July 1968, one of 29 recruits from Florida and South Georgia comprising the so-called Orange Blossum platoon.
WAC enlistees were required to serve a three-year enlistment and had a choice of several military occupational specialties, including communications, nursing and air traffic control. Upon completion of their military service, WACs were eligible for GI education benefits, just like their male counterparts.
“Back then, most parents who had four daughters could not afford to send all of them to college, so we knew we could take advantage of the G.I. Bill when we got out,” said Harbison, whose family moved to Jacksonville Beach in 1964.
During their eight weeks of basic training, WAC recruits assembled for daily inspections and marched everywhere on base, including to the chow hall. Members of the Orange Blossom platoon said the hardest part of their training was keeping their two-piece uniform clean and pressed.
“It could never be worn wrinkled and required ironing several times a day,” according to a 1968 feature story on the platoon in The Florida Times-Union.
“We want a highly disciplined, well-motivated capable young woman who will add to the achievements of the WACs,” a training officer said at the time. “By drilling and marching they learn to work together as a unit. Inspections teach them self-discipline and attention to details.”
Taught Combat Medics
Billie Harbison in uniform
After graduating as the top recruit in boot camp, Harbison attended clinical specialist school at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, the central hub for training Army enlisted medical personnel, including combat medics.
Following her nine months of specialist training, Harbison was assigned to William Beaumont General Hospital in El Paso, Texas, which served as a key treatment center for returning wounded soldiers.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, the hospital served as a major teaching and research center during the war, transitioning into a modern outpatient and acute care facility in the early 1970s.
“We saw some horrible injuries, but I joined the Army to become a nurse because I knew those young men needed us,” said Harbison, who taught basic nursing skills to Army medics heading overseas. “Judy trained as a clinical specialist just like me, only her school was in Colorado.”
From Denver to the Desert
Judy with her parentsJudy in uniform
Following boot camp, Judy Teate was assigned to Fitzsimmons General Hospital, which functioned as a major air evacuation hub for severely injured Army personnel needing specialized care.
During World War I, the historic Army hospital, named in honor of the first American medical officer killed in combat, provided care for causalities suffering from chemical weapons and tuberculosis.
By the time Teate arrived there in 1972, the Denver-based medical center was still functioning as an essential facility for both the treatment and the training of medical personnel deployed to combat support roles.
Teate studied alongside Army medics, graduating with a level of medical proficiency which parallelled that of a licensed practical nurse.
In 1973, she received her first duty assignment to 110-bed Raymond W. Bliss Army Hospital at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
At the time, Harbison was winding up her five-year Army enlistment with her sights set on a civilian nursing career.
“When I got out of the Army, Judy was home on leave and we were able to spend some time together before my dad drove her out to Arizona,” Harbison recalled.
Angel on Earth
Located in Southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the Mexican border, Fort Huachuca is situated some 2,000 miles from the coastal confines of Jacksonville Beach.
Surrounded by arid landscapes and forested mountains, the historic Army base dates to 1877 and is known as the home of the “Buffalo Soldiers,” a famous Black calvary regiment in the West.
Soon after Judy Teate settled into her new Army post, tragedy struck.
While moving furniture and possessions into her upstairs living quarters, Teate apparently fell and fatally injured herself.
“When her roommate came home from the hospital, she found Judy unresponsive on her bunk,” Harbison said.
According to an autopsy, Teate’s cause of death was a ruptured pancreas, which can be caused by a traumatic injury. Harbison believes her little sister may have tripped and fallen on a flight of stairs and died suddenly from rapid internal bleeding.
“She was in perfect health when we last saw her,” said Harbison.
“Her death was such a shock. I told my mother we were lucky to have her for as long as we did because she was an angel. She was too good for this world.”
Pvt. Judy Teate, who was born at St. Vincent’s Hospital and grew up in a two-story house her grandfather built in the 2500 block of 1st Street South, was buried with full military honors at Warren Smith Cemetery in Jacksonville Beach.
“I know how much my service means to me and how much it meant to Judy,” said Harbison, a disabled veteran. “She knew how it felt to wear that uniform, and she wore it well.”
This Memorial Day, Judy Teate’s name will be added to the Veterans Memorial Wall in downtown Jacksonville.
Please note that the Beaches Museum will close early at noon for a private event on Wednesday, 1/28. We will resume our regular operating hours on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Please plan your visits accordingly!
Beaches Museum • 381 Beach Boulevard Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32250
