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David Hunt thinks there are other veterans who are more deserving than him, while Jessica Roza doesn’t like to be the center of attention.
But both veterans will still be honored for their service as grand marshals at a pair of Veterans Day parades on Nov. 11.
Hunt, a resident of Waddell right outside Surprise, will be one of seven marshals at the Honoring America’s Veteran’s parade in Phoenix. Roza, meanwhile, is the sole grand marshal at the 10th annual Surprise Veterans Day parade.
Humility is a trait the two share in common, despite their 44-year age difference.
“I didn’t think in a million years I would get chosen,” said Hunt, an Army veteran whose daughter nominated him. “Next thing I know, I got a phone call.”
Hunt, 77, is the Vietnam War representative for a parade honoring veterans for all U.S. wars from World War II on. The Phoenix parade takes place at 11 a.m. from Bethany Home Road and Central Avenue to Indian School Road and Seventh Street.
Roza, 33, lives in Peoria, but it was a Surprise resident veteran who nominated her for the Surprise parade.
“I’m making her ride in the car with me,” Roza joked about her ride in the parade that is scheduled for down Bullard Avenue near Surprise Stadium.
Both veterans have different stories on how they got to this point.
On the Hunt
Hunt was originally drafted into the Vietnam War the second day after he gradated from high school.
“I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it,” Hunt said. “I just kind of accepted it.”
His official draft letter came later in October 1966 and he was on his way to basic training.
“I really wasn’t crazy about going in at first,” Hunt said. “After I was in for a while, I kinda liked it.”
He eventually gained an interest in going to jump school to earn $55 more a month, which was good money at the time.
His training took him to bases such as Fort Benning, Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell, where he left for Vietnam in December 1967.
He saw action on his first day out in the field when his battalion was ambushed.
“Man, it kind of set the tone for the rest of the year,” Hunt said.
He ended up suffering injuries to his chest and legs in a firefight in a later battle when a grenade landed near him.
He was discharged in August 1968 and earned a purple heart for his service.
The native of Peoria, Illinois, spent a decade as a police officer there after his military career.
But he realized during that time how much he missed military life. A friend talked him into going into the Coast Guard with him.
After a year, he decided the Coast Guard wasn’t for him and he moved back over to the Army reserves in November 1984.
He became an Army Criminal Investigation Command agent in the reserves, which basically meant he worked for the detective bureau of the military police.
Then in 2003, Hunt was activated with his unit and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. He was later transferred to the Active Guard Reserve and sent back to the U.S. to help set up a new Army reserve CID unit in Phoenix.
He served as the commander and operations officer until he retired from the Army reserve in February 2008 at the mandated age of 60.
“I used to tell young recruits the Army has put me in some of the worst places I’ve ever been in,” Hunt said. “On the other hand, they’ve put me in the nicest places I’ve ever been in. You gotta learn to take the bad with the good.”
Hunt recently took up golf, but health issues have been slowing him down.
“I was just getting to the point where I could play without embarrassing myself,” Hunt joked.
Nerve damage to his left leg has forced him to use a cane and a walker these days
“I still get around,” Hunt said. “I just get around a lot slower.”
Making a difference
Roza is a veteran of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve.
The self-described “military brat” from Fresno, California, joined the military as a junior in high school at age 17.
After serving time as a paralegal for the California Army National Guard, she moved over to the Army reserves, like Hunt.
After eight years total of service, she and her family moved to Arizona, where she began working in the office of Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-Surprise).
She eventually moved over to the Arizona Department of Veteran Services before leaving for her current role as chief legislative liaison for the Arizona Department of Gaming.
Rosa believes one of the reasons she was chosen as grand marshal of Surprise’s popular parade is her work helping the Arizona Legislature pass HB2670 two years ago, which allowed for veterans of national guard and reserves to be buried in state cemeteries.
“That was the first bill I got passed,” Roza said. “I was really proud of it.”
She’s also happy with her work with the West Valley Women Veterans group she started a few years ago. What started out as three women having coffee has grown to 350 members with some of them meeting once a month for networking over brunch.
“We just thought if we need the support, I bet there are other people who need support,” Roza said.
One of the women Roza met along the way was Surprise resident Dana West, the woman who nominated Rosa to be grand marshal.
“When I started struggling and feeling burnout, and knew I wasn’t OK, she was one of the first people who I knew I would be safe telling my problems to this person,” said West, who was dealing with military trauma issues. “She was truly a good friend, and not just an advocate. She was just a good person to me and it really helped.”
West said when she was asked to nominate somebody she couldn’t think of anybody else.
“I wanted other people to celebrate her and see this amazing female veteran who is changing the world for other female vets,” West said.
Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Jason Jason Stone joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2019, after a distinguished three decade media career that included stops at the Arizona Republic, iHeart Media/Clear Channel and Beckett Sports Card magazine. He remembers when airports sold newspapers.
Community: He is a big supporter of the Valley's original sports team: The Phoenix Suns.
Education: Northern Arizona University with a BS in broadcast journalism and a minor in sports coaching.
Random Fact: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.
Hobbies: Surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry.
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