WAYCROSS, Ga. — A city paid tribute to a fallen hero Tuesday in a way that will stay with it forever.
Sgt. Kennedy Sanders from Waycross, Georgia, was one of three soldiers killed in a drone attack in Jordan last month. Now the street her family lives on has been renamed in her honor.
“This is a very proud moment for us,” said Sanders’s mother, Oneida Oliver-Sanders. “It’s a bittersweet moment as well, the street that Kennedy used to play on and run up and down with her friends.”
A section of Eads Street off of Howe Street is now called Kennedy L. Sanders Way. Sanders was 24 years old when she was killed while serving her country.
“The ultimate sacrifice is something that I honor, but as a father, that’s an award that is hard to endure,” said Sanders’s father Shawn Sanders.
Sanders’s parents were each presented by the Waycross mayor with a railroad spike representing achievement. Oliver-Sanders says there’s been overwhelming support over the past three weeks, but she hopes it lasts longer.
“We want this to be something that is continuous throughout our lives so that Kennedy is never forgotten in the city of Waycross and in our nation,” she said. “She and her other comrades made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted.”
Loved ones are finding their own ways to honor Sanders. Her younger brother, Christian Sanders, recorded a song in her honor.
“My favorite line out of the song is, ‘My whole life been in the field, real soldiers ‘cause you the sergeant,’” Christian Sanders said. ”Basically just reminiscing when we used to play in the yard all the time, always playing football.”
Now Sanders’s name will look down her old street and over that yard.
“It shows us how much the city really honors and respects her sacrifice,” said Shawn Sanders about the street re-naming and ceremony with family, friends, neighbors, and city and county officials Tuesday.
“It really makes me proud to be from Waycross, Georgia,” said Oliver-Sanders.
There are more events planned throughout this year to honor Sanders. First Coast News will continue to provide updates on those.