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thedrifter
02-06-04, 06:39 AM
Jersey City Marine shuns 'hero' label

Mayor honors cop who's been to Iraq twice


Thursday, January 29, 2004


By Jeff Theodore
Journal staff writer

Thomas Engleke, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marines and a Jersey City motorcycle police officer, often talks about heroes.

But he shuns any suggestion that he is one.

Such a title, Engleke said, befits the growing legion of soldiers being killed during the Iraq war - the corporal in his battalion injured when he stepped on a land mine, or the three men of his battalion who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The word hero is thrown around a lot these days, but I didn't do anything heroic," said Engleke, a 19-year Marine reservist who served in Iraq between January and July of last year. "I just did what I was trained to do.

"While I was in the desert, I'm proud to say that I was among heroes."

But in the eyes of Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham and those gathered at City Hall yesterday, Engleke, who's also a 10-year veteran of the motorcycle squad, was selling himself way too short.

As his family and fellow police officers looked on, Engleke was presented with one of the proclamations Cunningham has bestowed on local soldiers returning from service in Iraq.

"We're very fortunate to have someone like you because you left your family and put your life on the line over there," Cunningham, a former Marine, told Engleke as about 20 of his police colleagues in uniform applauded.

"When I was a corporal, actually talking to a lieutenant colonel was a big thing. That's quite an accomplishment. We're lucky to have such a dedicated person protecting our city every day."

Jaime Vazquez, the city's director for veterans affairs, said he wouldn't allow the minor heart surgery he underwent on Tuesday to keep him from missing yesterday's ceremony. He lavished praise on Engleke.

"One of the rewards in life is a day like this to honor someone like you," said Vazquez, a former Marine. "Just yesterday I heard we had five Americans who lost their lives. We must acknowledge the service of all soldiers, sailors and Marines."

Engleke, 42, is a Jersey City native who graduated from Hudson Catholic High School in 1980. He earned an undergraduate degree from the now defunct Upsala College in East Orange. He joined the Marines in 1984, signing up for active duty for four years.

In 1990, as a reservist in the 6th Motor Transport Battalion based in Red Bank, Engleke served in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm for four months.

He said in some ways that war and the current war are similar. But, he noted, there is a stark contrast between the two about the official end of major combat.

"In 1991, the end of Desert Storm was much more celebratory and there was a sense of finality," Engleke said. "When major combat ended on May 1 last year in this war, you got the sense there was still a lot more work to be done."

Engleke credited Marines of lesser rank for any of the gains he was able to achieve.

"The junior Marines, the privates, lance corporals, they make up almost 50 percent of the Marines," he said. "They make officers like me look good."

Engleke said his battalion was spared any fatalities in Iraq but that three members of the battalion, two New York City policemen and a New York City firefighter, were killed during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"At our base camp in Iraq, three of the dirt roads were named after them in their honor," Engleke said.

He added that there is a strong possibility that Marines will be deployed again to Iraq at some point this year. He said it hasn't been determined what role his battalion might play.

"Well, that's news to me," said Engleke's surprised mother, Mel, when asked her feelings about her son's possible return to Iraq. "I really hope that doesn't happen. I worried when he was over there. But I'm very proud of him."

Jeff Theodore can be reached at jtheodor@jjournal.com

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1075397128151680.xml


Sempers,

Roger
:marine: