Their relationship grew through daily phone calls, letters, and email conversations. Charles was different in all the right ways as the couple grew close and their career aspirations took priority, keeping them geographically separated.Ĭareer-driven, Canedy blossomed as an award-winning journalist for the New York Times, while King pushed hard in his career to retire as a sergeant major. King was nothing like the alpha men she had previously met, she wrote. King had dropped by to deliver a pointillism art piece to her father, which she described as a collage of black-and-white images created with thousands of tiny inked dots.Ĭanedy chose the word “gorgeous” to describe King during their first encounter, the book said, although, she was apprehensive to date a military man due to her upbringing as an Army dependent and uneasy relationship with her father, a former drill sergeant. He and his wife later divorced, which was one of the most painful moments in his life.Ĭanedy and King eventually crossed paths at her old home in Radcliff, close to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he was stationed. King did all he could to be a good father despite his struggling marriage, according to Canedy’s book. He married shortly after joining the Army and became a father after his daughter, Christina, was born. He was always remembered as a soft-spoken, shy and compassionate individual, often choosing to help others before acting on his own self interests. King attended the Art Institute of Chicago and spent several years working as an illustrator in Alabama before joining the Army in 1987. You could see him in each of the Army’s values - that was just the type of person he was.” “Charles was a ‘Soldier’s Soldier,'” Wickes added. Jordan and Chante Adams as King and Canedy, respectively. The movie is directed by Denzel Washington and features Michael B. “It was unbelievable, just hearing that we were going to get to work on this amazing project.” “Charles was absolutely one of my best friends in the world,” said Wickes, who shared the same information with OCPA-West. Wickes and King became close friends during the years he worked as an NTC observer, trainer and controller, before being assigned to 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2004. The title refers to an unfinished 200-page, block-letter style journal King wrote to his infant son, Jordan, before he died in Iraq on Oct. The movie’s script came from Dana Canedy’s memoir about her late fiance, 1st Sgt. Wickes froze as a wave of emotions fell upon her. “They requested support for a movie called ‘A Journal for Jordan’ on Fort Irwin,” she said. OCPA-West serves as the Army’s liaison to the entertainment industry. Nevertheless, this call was different once she realized that the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, Western Region, was on the other line. Wickes, a former Soldier with close to 25 years of Army civilian experience, was used to receiving all types of requests in support of the Army, NTC, or Fort Irwin mission, she said. The National Training Center had just returned to adjusted operations after the COVID-19 pandemic paused training for nearly three months. As the community relations officer at Fort Irwin, California, Renita Wickes was teleworking in her home in late July when her phone rang.
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