thedrifter
03-19-06, 08:30 AM
Silent tributes to the fallen
From streets to parks, the names of those who died in Iraq dot the state
Sunday, March 19, 2006
BY TOM FEENEY
Star-Ledger Staff
A visitors center at Fort Dix.
A Little League field in Howell.
A small square of black granite at the foot of a flag pole in Mine Hill.
The soldiers and Marines who have died in the three years since the start of the war in Iraq are remembered best where they are missed the most -- at home, where their photos hang on the walls, where the flags that draped their caskets sit in cases on book shelves or piano lids, where their dog tags are displayed like religious artifacts.
But they are remembered too in their communities and at their schools. Their names have been attached to buildings, to streets, to gardens, to plaques, to parks and park benches.
Fifty-six soldiers and Marines with ties to New Jersey have died in Iraq.
Their names now dot the state.
The North Howell Sports Association calls one of its baseball diamonds the Michael E. Curtin Freedom Field. That's a tribute to the Army specialist and Howell resident who became the first New Jerseyan killed in Iraq when a suicide bomber struck at a roadblock he was guarding near Najaf on March 29, 2003.
"For a lot of years, kids will go to that field to play baseball and see the name, and maybe they'll ask, 'Who is this Michael Curtin?'" said Ed Weiss, who was running one recent afternoon near the Oakerson Road Little League complex. "It's nice that future generations will know what he did for this country."
The building at Fort Dix where employee ID cards and visitor passes are issued is called the Hemingway Visitors Center. It was named for Staff Sgt. Terry Hemingway, a tank commander from Willingboro who was killed April 10, 2003, when a car bomb blew up near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
'RYAN'S NAME IS ALL OVER'
A cavernous engineering building at the Picatinny Arsenal is named for Sgt. Ryan E. Doltz, an Army National Guardsman who was killed in an ambush in Baghdad on June 5, 2004. Doltz, of Mine Hill, is remembered too with a series of scholarships, with a plaque at the National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville and with markers at his alma maters, Dover High School and the Virginia Military Institute.
The square of black granite beside the flag pole outside the Mine Hill municipal building also is dedicated to his memory. The marker sits in a complex with soccer fields, picnic pavilions, the volunteer fire company and the first aid squad, just a few blocks from his family's house.
"Ryan's name is all over the place," said his mom, Cheryl. "He always liked things bigger, better, faster and more expensive. He would have been very pleased."
There are at least three streets in New Jersey named for soldiers killed in Iraq.
A section of Beech Street in Passaic is now known as "Lt. Richard Torres Square" in honor of a Passaic native who was killed by an explosive device on Oct. 6, 2003, while he was patrolling Baghdad. Torres, who was 25 when he died, had lived on Beech Street for 18 years.
Michele Road in Oak Ridge, named years ago after the daughter of a developer, was renamed "2nd Lt. J.T. Wroblewski Lane" in 2004. The name is a tribute to a soldier who was shot and killed during an uprising in Ramadi on April 6, 2004. Wroblewski grew up on the street, and his family still lives there.
And a section of Passaic Avenue in Carlstadt is now known as Frank T. Carvill Way in honor of the 51-year-old Army National Guardsman who was killed by an explosive device in Baghdad on June 4, 2004.
Carvill grew up near the intersection of Passaic and Fifth Street in a house with a view of Manhattan. He moved away but returned later in life to help take care of his mother.
The war dead are well remembered in public parks around New Jersey.
A GIFT FROM FRIENDS
At the Mercer County Park, a bench has been dedicated to the memory of 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin of East Brunswick. Dvorin, for whom a New Jersey chapter of the Jewish War Veterans is now named, was killed Feb. 3, 2004, as he tried to clear an explosive device on a road in Iskandariyah.
The bench was a gift of his mother's friends. It is placed on the spot where she and her second husband were married. In his last letter home, Dvorin wrote that he wanted to have a second wedding ceremony with his wife, Kelly, right at that spot.
The names of many of those killed in Iraq can be found on school properties.
A granite marker was placed near a flagpole at the West Milford High School football field in memory of Lance Cpl. Brian P. Parrello, a 2003 graduate. Parrello died in an ambush on Dec. 30, 2004, when his Marine swift boat unit came ashore from the Euphrates River in Haditha. "A hero is how he'll remain in our hearts forever," his marker says.
"The post office in town is named after him, and there are other ways he'll be remembered," said Courtney Bordino, a classmate and friend who helped organize the fundraising drive. "He was a big part of our class. We wanted to make sure that was remembered."
Tom Feeney may be reached at (732) 761-8436 or tfeeney@starledger.com.
Ellie
From streets to parks, the names of those who died in Iraq dot the state
Sunday, March 19, 2006
BY TOM FEENEY
Star-Ledger Staff
A visitors center at Fort Dix.
A Little League field in Howell.
A small square of black granite at the foot of a flag pole in Mine Hill.
The soldiers and Marines who have died in the three years since the start of the war in Iraq are remembered best where they are missed the most -- at home, where their photos hang on the walls, where the flags that draped their caskets sit in cases on book shelves or piano lids, where their dog tags are displayed like religious artifacts.
But they are remembered too in their communities and at their schools. Their names have been attached to buildings, to streets, to gardens, to plaques, to parks and park benches.
Fifty-six soldiers and Marines with ties to New Jersey have died in Iraq.
Their names now dot the state.
The North Howell Sports Association calls one of its baseball diamonds the Michael E. Curtin Freedom Field. That's a tribute to the Army specialist and Howell resident who became the first New Jerseyan killed in Iraq when a suicide bomber struck at a roadblock he was guarding near Najaf on March 29, 2003.
"For a lot of years, kids will go to that field to play baseball and see the name, and maybe they'll ask, 'Who is this Michael Curtin?'" said Ed Weiss, who was running one recent afternoon near the Oakerson Road Little League complex. "It's nice that future generations will know what he did for this country."
The building at Fort Dix where employee ID cards and visitor passes are issued is called the Hemingway Visitors Center. It was named for Staff Sgt. Terry Hemingway, a tank commander from Willingboro who was killed April 10, 2003, when a car bomb blew up near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
'RYAN'S NAME IS ALL OVER'
A cavernous engineering building at the Picatinny Arsenal is named for Sgt. Ryan E. Doltz, an Army National Guardsman who was killed in an ambush in Baghdad on June 5, 2004. Doltz, of Mine Hill, is remembered too with a series of scholarships, with a plaque at the National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville and with markers at his alma maters, Dover High School and the Virginia Military Institute.
The square of black granite beside the flag pole outside the Mine Hill municipal building also is dedicated to his memory. The marker sits in a complex with soccer fields, picnic pavilions, the volunteer fire company and the first aid squad, just a few blocks from his family's house.
"Ryan's name is all over the place," said his mom, Cheryl. "He always liked things bigger, better, faster and more expensive. He would have been very pleased."
There are at least three streets in New Jersey named for soldiers killed in Iraq.
A section of Beech Street in Passaic is now known as "Lt. Richard Torres Square" in honor of a Passaic native who was killed by an explosive device on Oct. 6, 2003, while he was patrolling Baghdad. Torres, who was 25 when he died, had lived on Beech Street for 18 years.
Michele Road in Oak Ridge, named years ago after the daughter of a developer, was renamed "2nd Lt. J.T. Wroblewski Lane" in 2004. The name is a tribute to a soldier who was shot and killed during an uprising in Ramadi on April 6, 2004. Wroblewski grew up on the street, and his family still lives there.
And a section of Passaic Avenue in Carlstadt is now known as Frank T. Carvill Way in honor of the 51-year-old Army National Guardsman who was killed by an explosive device in Baghdad on June 4, 2004.
Carvill grew up near the intersection of Passaic and Fifth Street in a house with a view of Manhattan. He moved away but returned later in life to help take care of his mother.
The war dead are well remembered in public parks around New Jersey.
A GIFT FROM FRIENDS
At the Mercer County Park, a bench has been dedicated to the memory of 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin of East Brunswick. Dvorin, for whom a New Jersey chapter of the Jewish War Veterans is now named, was killed Feb. 3, 2004, as he tried to clear an explosive device on a road in Iskandariyah.
The bench was a gift of his mother's friends. It is placed on the spot where she and her second husband were married. In his last letter home, Dvorin wrote that he wanted to have a second wedding ceremony with his wife, Kelly, right at that spot.
The names of many of those killed in Iraq can be found on school properties.
A granite marker was placed near a flagpole at the West Milford High School football field in memory of Lance Cpl. Brian P. Parrello, a 2003 graduate. Parrello died in an ambush on Dec. 30, 2004, when his Marine swift boat unit came ashore from the Euphrates River in Haditha. "A hero is how he'll remain in our hearts forever," his marker says.
"The post office in town is named after him, and there are other ways he'll be remembered," said Courtney Bordino, a classmate and friend who helped organize the fundraising drive. "He was a big part of our class. We wanted to make sure that was remembered."
Tom Feeney may be reached at (732) 761-8436 or tfeeney@starledger.com.
Ellie