Rear Adm. Michael T. Franken, interim director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, and Tom Conrad, Mayor of Silvis, laid a wreath at the memorial on Hero Street, May 6, commemorating more than 100 men and women who grew up on the street and served the Armed Forces, eight of which were lost in battle.

"Throughout America, everyone has a connection to the Armed Forces," said Franken. "Silvis is particularly acute in having so many service members from a particular bloodline, an immigration group, who have served in the military and who had eight members pay the ultimate price. It is painful in many respects, but it is also honorable that this community has turned out to support this nation, a nation of immigrants."

Before the 1930s many of the town's railroad workers came from Mexican descent, and settled in the Midwestern residential area owned by the Rock Island Railroad Line. The company gave the workers boxcars on plots of land to rent tax-free to allow the workers to live nearby.

The families, typically quite large, encouraged their children to seek a better life, which led many of the next generation to volunteer to join the military.

Hero Street, formally 2nd Street, was renamed in 1967 to reflect the sacrifices of those from the community, and later dedicated the park in honor of the eight deceased. The park contains a pictorial monument, a Grotto, a playground and a pavilion. The monument contains pictures and biographies of the eight-deceased veterans from Hero Street and the grotto displays the names of all war dead from Silvis.

To begin the ceremony, U.S. Navy Band Great Lakes played the national anthem while USS Constitution Sailors paraded the colors.

"Being stationed on such an historical ship, I get to do a lot of color guards," said Seaman Andrew Fonticiella, stationed aboard Old Ironsides. "But presenting the American flag at this ceremony was different. Almost everyone in the crowd was personally affected by the military, and I could feel the sense of patriotism throughout the assembly."

Afterwards, Franken and Conrad read the city's proclamation for Quad Cities Navy Week and then proceeded up the stairs to the Grotto to lay a wreath.

"Watching them lay the wreath took me back to when the park was just an empty hill, and the boys would come out and play their guitars and sing songs," said Tanilo Sandoval, an Army veteran who was born and raised on the street, and also lost two brothers in the service. "Back then, I don't think we could have imagined an organization like the Navy Band or the Constitution concern themselves with coming here. I'm proud."

To close out the ceremony, Franken reenlisted Senior Chief Logistics Specialist Monica Santiago, a Navy Reservist, who was a native to Hero Street.

"Reenlisting here is a once in a lifetime event, since I was born and raised on this street," said Santiago. "With the history that comes with this street, with the Navy Week, and with the celebration of the centennial of the Navy Reserves, and with my mother here, I couldn't ask for anything more than this."

The Navy Week program is designed to raise awareness about the Navy in areas across the country that traditionally do not have a naval presence, and to bring America's Navy closer to the people it protects through community relation projects, speaking engagements, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) demonstrations and media interviews with flag hosts and local area Sailors.