World War II veterans are honored through the example of Wall Township resident Harry J. "Rocky" Rockafeller, portrayed as he was in December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge while serving as a major in the United States Army 4th Armored Division. Acclaimed as the vanguard of General George S. Patton’s Third Army, the 4th Armored had no nickname, and its commander, Major General John Shirley Wood, declared, “They Shall be Known by Their Deeds Alone.” Rockafeller, one of the more than 16 million Americans who served in World War II, earned a Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters, a Bronze Star with "V" device for valor, and a Purple Heart during combat in France, Belgium, and Germany in 1944-1945. He entered the campaign in Normandy in July 1944 as a captain with the 51st Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division, and was promoted to major after helping open a supply corridor to American forces surrounded by Germans at Bastogne, Belgium, in late December 1944, a critical Allied victory in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest battle in the history of the United States Army. After World War II, he remained in the United States Army Reserves, rose to the rank of Major General, commanded the 78th Division until retiring in 1974, lived in Wall Township for more than 70 years, and died at his home on August 8, 2017.