Edward James "Babe" Heffron (16 May 1923 – 1 December 2013) was a private with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II.

[1]: 11–12 Heffron went to work at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, sandblasting cruisers in preparation for converting them to light aircraft carriers.

[1]: 13–14  As a teenager, he had developed an intermittent medical condition where his hands and fingers would curl under and lock up, causing severe pain (possibly, the onset of Dupuytren's contracture), but this was never mentioned to anyone as he wanted to continue playing football in school.

Either the exemption or the medical condition would have allowed him to remain stateside, but he refused to stay home when his brothers (Joseph, James, and John), friends, and neighbors were all doing their duty.

On 1 January 1945, Heffron was in his foxhole manning his machine gun when he heard Sergeant Johnny Martin cry out that Julian had been hit.

[1]: 180–181  It would be 12 years after the war before Heffron could bring himself to call Julian's mother, honoring the pact he and his friends had made at jump school.

[citation needed] Heffron died on 1 December 2013 at Kennedy Hospital in Stratford, New Jersey;[8][9] he was survived by his wife Dolores and daughter Patricia.

Located near 2nd and Reed streets, the 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) statue[11] includes a plaque detailing Heffron's military career, as well as a bronze heart that contains a portion of his and his wife's ashes.