Jacksonville: Anchored in Service

BY Sean Venables

The old destroyer sits low and steel gray along the Jacksonville waterfront, bristling with guns, ladders, tight passageways, and lingering memories.

Commissioned too late for World War II but soon put to the test in the Cold War conflicts that followed, USS Orleck earned the name “Train Buster” during the Korean War. Later, the Gearing-class destroyer became known as the “Grey Ghost of the Vietnam Coast.”

The ship served the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1982, later served in the Turkish Navy, and now rests in Jacksonville as a carefully restored museum ship. Described by the Jacksonville Naval Museum as the most decorated post-World War II ship ever built, the Orleck served in the Vietnam War as plane guard for aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, participated in Operation Sea Dragon, provided search-and-rescue support, and carried out naval gunfire support missions along the coast.

For VVA members attending the 2026 National Leadership & Education Conference, August 11-15, the Orleck offers a natural first stop: close to the Conference hotel, closely tied to the Vietnam War, and physically rooted in the city’s riverfront. Our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, sits on the St. Johns River with downtown at its back and the water at its feet.

Jacksonville is a vast city, and ambitious visitors will find beaches, parks, golf, neighborhoods, and restaurants spread out in every direction. But for VVA and AVVA members, the most useful version of Jacksonville is the one closest to the hotel: the riverfront, downtown, the Southbank, nearby restaurants, veterans memorials, and a few carefully chosen side trips.

The Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront is a clean, modern, well-run conference hotel. Its greatest asset is right there in the name: the riverfront. Secure a river-view room if you can: watching the St. Johns River shift through the day is one of the pleasures of staying there. The approach to the hotel is inviting, too, with the building fronting the water and a river breeze sometimes arriving with surprising force. Hold on to your VVA hat.

Service during a recent visit was friendly, and the public spaces were easy to navigate. Accessibility is good, as well, with wide hallways inside and abundant ramps and crosswalks outside. One caution: When large groups are arriving or leaving, the elevators can become overwhelmed. Plan accordingly if you need to be in a seminar at a particular time.

Guest rooms are comfortable in the standard business-hotel way, though not especially spacious. One practical drawback: my room lacked a full dresser, and the mini-fridge had been replaced by a “cooler” better suited to keeping drinks modestly chilled than preserving leftovers or medication. Those who need dependable refrigeration should check with the hotel in advance. Standard beds come with a variety of pillows and a feather-down comforter blanket. Hypoallergenic bedding and blankets are available upon request.

The hotel has a well-equipped gym and a rooftop pool. The pool area is not quite the showstopper one might imagine, but in August it will be a welcome place to cool off, especially after a workout or a walk along the river.

The hotel’s main restaurant, SHOR Seafood Grill, is better than the average in-hotel restaurant, which is not faint praise. Hotel restaurants too often settle for expensive mediocrity; SHOR does better than that.

The breakfast buffet is not inexpensive at about $30, but once you start pricing items individually, the all-you-can-eat option begins to make sense. The scrambled eggs were good, the bacon very good, the fresh fruit tasted fresh, and the home fries—actually nicely cooked potato wedges—were excellent. The pancakes were the standout: fresh, hot, and crisp at the edges. Service was friendly and helpful.

The Hyatt also houses a Morton’s The Steakhouse just off its main lobby, a reliable, high-end option for those looking for a formal dinner, a celebratory meal, or a good steak without leaving the building.

Jacksonville International Airport is a pleasure compared with many larger airports: easy to navigate, with ample taxis and a clear area for Uber and other ride-share pickups. The ride to the Hyatt takes about 15 minutes in normal traffic.

Once downtown, the question becomes how much walking you want to do. Jacksonville’s riverfront area is reasonably manageable around the Hyatt, but the city itself is sprawling. For short downtown hops, taxis and ride-shares are useful. The St. Johns River Taxi is also worth checking out, both as transportation and as a pleasant way to experience the city from the water. Its regular service connects downtown riverfront docks, including the Northbank and Southbank areas, but be sure to check current operating hours before making plans.

The USS Orleck (DD-886) is not merely a museum piece. She is a compact, steel-sided history of the Cold War Navy. The Orleck was laid down in Orange, Texas, on November 28, 1944; launched on May 12, 1945; and commissioned on September 15, 1945. She was named for Lt. Joseph Orleck, who was killed in action during World War II and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

The museum also describes the Orleck as the “Top Gun” of Vietnam, crediting the ship with firing more than 11,000 rounds in support of ground forces and earning 14 Vietnam War battle stars. Its gunline service became central to Orleck’s Vietnam War reputation. The Florida Historic Naval Ship Association says the “Grey Ghost” nickname reflects the way Orleck seemed always to be available when Marines and other ground forces needed fire support. That history will give the museum particular weight for VVA members, who will not simply be touring a preserved destroyer, but will be stepping onto the deck of a ship that took part in the same war that shaped their generation.

Today, the Orleck is the centerpiece of the Jacksonville Naval Museum, whose mission is to tell the story of Jacksonville’s long relationship with the U.S. Navy. The ship itself is the star attraction. Visitors can move through passageways, climb ladders, inspect weapons systems, step into tight workspaces, and get a feel for how sailors lived and served aboard a destroyer.

Multimedia presentations help interpret the experience, but the power of the tour is physical: the steel decks, narrow berths, exposed machinery, and close quarters. The guns, magazines, communications spaces, berthing areas, and passageways help make visible the Navy’s part in the Vietnam War – often offshore, often out of sight, but deeply connected to the men fighting ashore.

For VVA members attending the Leadership Conference, the Orleck is the rare attraction that is close, relevant, and memorable. It is also a good intergenerational stop. Children and grandchildren may come for the novelty of boarding a real destroyer; veterans may find themselves explaining what the younger visitors are seeing.

The museum is open for tours Wednesday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.; Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday. The museum lists the Orleck at 610 E. Bay Street, Jacksonville, at the old shipyard Pier 1. Admission is $15 for adults; $13 for veterans and seniors; $7 for ages 6-17; and free for children under 5. AARP adult admission is $10. Active-duty service members are admitted free in uniform and for $7 out of uniform.

Either way, allow time. A quick walk-through can be done in less than an hour, but those with a serious interest in naval history will want to linger. Wear comfortable shoes, expect ladders and tight spaces, and remember that this is a real warship, not a purpose-built museum, which is exactly what makes it worth visiting.

Jacksonville’s relationship with the military is visible throughout the city, and two memorials are especially relevant.

The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Wall next to EverBank Stadium honors more than 1,700 Jacksonville-area servicemembers from World War I to today who have lost their lives in service to America. A 65-foot black granite monument with an eternal flame, it is the second-largest memorial wall in the United States, behind only the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

This is both a somber and worthwhile stop, though it is not as close to the Hyatt as the Orleck. Those planning a visit should consider taking a taxi or ride-share, especially in Florida’s August heat.

Just across from the Memorial Wall is VyStar Ballpark, home of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. During the Leadership Conference, the Jumbo Shrimp will be at home against the Syracuse Mets, with games scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, August 11-14. For VVA members planning to visit the Wall, the ballpark’s location makes for a natural pairing: pay respects at the memorial, then take in a summer evening of Triple-A baseball.

Tickets are reasonable, with advance single-game prices starting at $5 for lawn seating and $7 for outfield reserved seats; many standard reserved seats run from about $15-$21. The team offers family-friendly weekly promotions, including low-cost hot dogs, with final game-night promotions best checked when buying tickets.

Across the river on Southbank is Jacksonville’s naval memorial statue, The Liberty Hound, which pays homage to the Lone Sailor tradition. The bronze sculpture, set on a granite foundation, depicts a young sailor looking out toward the water, one foot resting on a dock post, sea bag nearby. He wears the familiar sailor’s cap, scarf tie, peacoat, and bell-bottoms. It is a figure meant to stand for the ordinary enlisted sailor. The University of North Florida’s historical architecture archive credits the monument to sculptor Stanley Bleifeld.

Bleifeld also created the original Lone Sailor statue for the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., where it was dedicated on October 13, 1987. The Navy Memorial says the Lone Sailor was designed as a symbol of the men and women of the sea services, past, present, and future. The original statue was cast with artifacts from eight U.S. Navy ships, including the U.S.S. Constitution, U.S.S. Constellation, Maine, Hancock, Ranger, physically linking the figure to generations of naval history.

In Jacksonville, the statue carries added local meaning. Set along the St. Johns River, it commemorates the long and valued relationship between the city and the U.S. Navy. For VVA members walking Southbank, it is a quiet, accessible stop: a single sailor, sea bag packed, facing the water.

Downtown Jacksonville has the usual mix of business-district restaurants: some polished, some casual, some modest-looking places that turn out to be better than expected. For Conference attendees, proximity matters.

For breakfast, two good choices near the hotel are D&G Deli and Urban Grind Coffee Company. D&G is the place for classic, generously portioned breakfast sandwiches that are hearty and straightforward.

Urban Grind is more atmospheric, with a restored industrial-building feel, helpful staff, artisan bagels and sandwiches, and a distinctive coffee menu. When we visited, they offered a blueberry cold brew with foam - mild, coffee-forward, and not too sweet; a salted caramel coconut latte with a creamy, burnt-sugar quality balanced by salty foam; and café con leche, which was rich, creamy and delicious.

For lunch, Lettuce Eat is a no-frills but pleasant choice, especially for those looking for something lighter. The $15 unlimited salad-and-soup buffet includes a huge salad selection, several meats, fruit, and a good chicken salad. Cinco de Mayo is also friendly, welcoming, and accommodating, with cold drinks, good chips and salsa, and standard Mexican restaurant fare. The chicken soup is excellent and plentiful.

For a quick slice, Pizza Dynamo serves New York-style pizza a short walk from the hotel. Insomnia Cookies offers extra-large, soft, warm cookies best approached with an appetite or a friend willing to share.

One of the most pleasant surprises downtown is Spliff’s Gastropub. It is modest-looking, casual, and open late, but the food is much better than the setting suggests. The Diablo steak mac and cheese was excellently spicy, with tender steak. The patty melt, with cheese and grilled onions on thick sourdough, was as delicious as it is unhealthy.

Best of all was the BBQ burnt-end pork belly sandwich, with crisp bits and sauce that did not drown the meat. It had me planning a return visit before I paid the check.

Not far from Spliff’s is another downtown Jacksonville original, Casa Dora Italian Café. Quirky and old-school, it is a true hole-in-the-wall and easy to miss if you are not looking for it. The pizza is good, but the kitchen really shines with home-style Italian chicken dishes. The chicken piccata is tender and bright; the chicken cacciatore hearty and comforting. Both come with pasta cooked just right. And definitely don’t skip the cheesecake.

If schedules line up, catch a show at the Florida Theatre, one of downtown Jacksonville’s historic treasures. The theatre opened in 1927, during the era when downtown movie palaces were civic showpieces, and it remains one of the city’s signature performance venues today.

Beauty and history do not always sit comfortably together, though. When the Florida Theatre opened in 1927, it was one of downtown Jacksonville’s “whites only” buildings, a fact the theater itself acknowledges. Nearly a century later, the building remains a civic treasure, but one best appreciated with clear eyes: as a splendid movie palace from the Jazz Age, and as a reminder of the segregated city that built it.

Today, the Florida Theatre is a nonprofit performing-arts center operating in a public-private partnership with the City of Jacksonville, which owns the building. Its mission is to enhance North Florida’s quality of life by offering “diverse and memorable arts and entertainment experiences” while preserving a unique Jacksonville landmark. The theatre is consistently ranked among the nation’s most-attended venues of its size, with an 1,865-seat house and a lineup that ranges widely and includes concerts, comedy, family programming, talks, tribute acts, and touring performers.

For dinner before or after a show, Spliff’s and Casa Dora are both convenient.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, operated by the University of North Florida, is another worthwhile downtown stop. Admission is free on Saturdays; the rest of the week is $10 for adults and $6 for seniors, military, youth, and college students; however, the museum’s first floor is always free to the public. During the week of the Leadership Conference, stop in to see “Great Greetings,” a special exhibit that transforms the museum’s Atrium into a shimmering space of gold and silver by using disposable emergency blankets.

MOCA has joined Blue Star Museums and CSX to offer expanded free admission for military families, veterans, and first responders from Armed Forces Day, May 16, through Labor Day, September 7.

After the museum, consider Dorothy’s Downtown for lunch or dinner. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, and the food during my visit was exceptional. It’s a fine place to sample cocktails, Southern-style seafood, and other local specialties.

If you want to step out of the hotel for a local high-end meal, Cowford Chophouse is a strong downtown choice. The restaurant serves steak, seafood, and cocktails and includes a rooftop bar with skyline and river views. In an interesting historical note, “Cowford” refers to Jacksonville’s original name, tied to a narrow part of the St. Johns River where cattle were driven across.

The food and service are excellent. If you arrive without a reservation and tables are unavailable, eating at the bar is a good fallback. Service there is attentive, and your drink refill will likely arrive faster than it would in the dining room.

Across the river on Southbank, the top dining recommendation is Chart House. The building itself is part of the appeal: distinctive, angular, and sitting directly on the water. The St. Johns River provides an idyllic backdrop for lunch, dinner, or happy hour. On a good day, diners may spot dolphins in the river, and the views of downtown are among the best in the city.

Consider saving room for the Chart House’s signature dessert, the hot lava chocolate cake. It is rich, warm, and worth the wait—but tell your server early, because it takes time to prepare.

Visitors crossing to Southbank should make time for Friendship Fountain, one of Jacksonville’s best-known riverfront landmarks. It sits in St. Johns River Park at the west end of Southbank Riverwalk. Situated next to a ship-themed children’s playground, the fountain dates to 1965 and remains one of the city’s most popular public spaces. Southbank is also a good place for a slower stroll, river photographs, and views back toward the Hyatt and downtown skyline. In August, go early or late, bring water, and do not underestimate the heat.

Those with access to a car, extra time, and energy have many choices beyond downtown, including Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, the city’s beaches, and the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

But for the Leadership Conference, the best advice may be to resist over-planning. Jacksonville rewards ambition, but August punishes it. The most satisfying visit may be a modest one: the Orleck in the morning, lunch nearby, a rest at the hotel, a museum or memorial, then dinner with a river view.

Jacksonville reveals itself in pieces. It is broad, breezy, spread out, and deeply tied to the river. A visitor may not take in the whole city in a short week, but the smaller discoveries are rewarding: a ship’s passageway, a rooftop view, a good sandwich, a quiet memorial, a fountain-side bench overlooking the water, a sudden gust coming off the St. Johns.

For VVA members, the city’s strongest appeal may be that military history is not an afterthought here. Jacksonville, Florida, is tied to the river, to the Navy, to memorials and ships, and to the many men and women who passed through the city on their way to serving elsewhere.

Start with the Orleck. Stand on the deck. Look back toward the Hyatt and the downtown skyline. Then imagine the same ship at sea in Korea, Vietnam, and through the long Cold War years, carrying young sailors far from home.

That is Jacksonville at its most resonant: a river city where service, memory, and the water are never far apart.

BY MARC LEEPSON

Aside from the wealth of seminars, the Leadership Conference—as always—will include special guests, starting with Philip Napoli, the Keynote speaker at the Opening Ceremonies. Napoli, who has a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University, is the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Brooklyn College, where he also teaches courses on the Vietnam War and has specialized in writing about the history of American war veterans.

The author of Bringing It All Back Home: An Oral History of New York City’s Vietnam Veterans, Phil Napoli is an AVVA member and is working on a history of Vietnam Veterans of America with former VVA President John Rowan. He is a volunteer adviser to VVA’s Legacy Task Force, which he says is a “labor of love,” and will take part in the LTF seminar at the Conference. He will discuss VVA’s future and legacy during the Wednesday morning Keynote.

Vietnam War veteran Shad Meshad will receive the Excellence in the Sciences Award at the Saturday night Awards Banquet. After earning his MA in psychiatric social work, Meshad enlisted in the Army in 1970 and served in Vietnam as a psych officer working with the troops. When he came home from the war, he began a life-long career as a veterans’ mental health advocate.

Meshad founded and directed the Vietnam Veterans Re-Socialization Unit at the VA Hospital in Los Angeles in the early seventies—the first program focusing on the readjustment problems of Vietnam War veterans. During that time, he was among the first mental health professionals to study what would become known as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. In 1979, he spearheaded the concept that became the VA’s Vet Center Program, which now serves veterans in more than 300 locations across the country.

The author of a 1982 Vietnam War memoir, Captain for Dark Mornings, Meshad founded the Vietnam Veterans Aid Foundation in 1985. Later renamed the National Veterans Foundation, the organization continues its work today, running outreach missions to homeless veterans in the Los Angeles area and operating Lifeline for Vets, the nation’s first toll-free vet-to-vet crisis and information hotline.

Paul Sanchez and Cory Glover, members of the cast of the groundbreaking Vietnam War movie Platoon, will receive the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Awards Banquet.

Sanchez is an actor, director, and screenwriter who has appeared in many movies and TV series, including Born on the Fourth of July, Cast Away, Navy SEALs, and in Platoon, his first film role, in which he played Doc, the medic. Sanchez directed, wrote, co-produced, and appeared in Platoon: Brothers in Arms, an unauthorized documentary that came out in 2018.

Narrated by Charlie Sheen, the star of Platoon, Brothers in Arms tells the story of the making of Oliver Stone’s, Academy-Award winning 1986 Vietnam War film through the eyes of a group of its actors, including Glover, Sheen, Sanchez, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, and John C. McGinley.

Corey Glover is a singer, songwriter, and actor who played Private Francis in Platoon. A few years later he was a founding member and lead singer of the Grammy Award-winning rock band, Living Colour.

He went on to play the role of Judas for four years in the national touring company of Jesus Christ Superstar, and continued his rock music career as the vocalist first for the band Galactic and, later, for Soul Rebels Brass Band. Today he performs with his band, Soul Experience.

Three years ago, Billboard magazine ranked Corey Glover no. 45 on its list of the 50 Greatest Rock Lead Singers of All Time.

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