thedrifter
03-12-07, 08:45 AM
Jersey City Marine still in hospital
Monday, March 12, 2007
By NYIER ABDOU
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
A Marine from Jersey City injured in a car crash is still in critical condition, two weeks after the wreck that killed two of his fellow recruiters.
Sgt. Glendale Santamaria, of Jersey City, remains in critical condition at Morristown Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday. Sgt. Thomas Sweeney, of Lakeville, Pa., also is in critical condition. The driver, Sgt. Nicholas Gendron, was seriously injured but was recently released from the hospital.
A memorial service was held Saturday at the Picatinny Arsenal for the recruiters, who were killed Feb. 23 when their government car veered off a poorly lit, winding road on the Denville-Randolph border and smashed into a tree.
In addition to Staff Sgt. Eric Shawn Maul, 31, who lived on the base, and Sgt. William Pascal, 27, of Newton, who were killed in the crash, the service also honored Cpl. David Webb Jr., 24, who was found dead March 5 in his Lake Hopatcong home.
He had been assigned to the Rockaway recruitment office to fill in after the crash; the cause of his death is still being investigated, police said.
Sgt. Jeffrey Morella, 24, of Manville, was the only man in the six-person Rockaway office not in the car that night. When he came to the podium he abandoned pages of notes to speak "from the heart," he said, of the group's close-knit, pal-around relationship. Gendron, the driver, also attended Saturday's service.
On stage under spotlights were three helmets sitting atop the men's weapons and boots, their dog tags slung over the weapons. As Marines filed out of the service, they briefly touched each pair of boots.
Ellie
Monday, March 12, 2007
By NYIER ABDOU
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
A Marine from Jersey City injured in a car crash is still in critical condition, two weeks after the wreck that killed two of his fellow recruiters.
Sgt. Glendale Santamaria, of Jersey City, remains in critical condition at Morristown Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday. Sgt. Thomas Sweeney, of Lakeville, Pa., also is in critical condition. The driver, Sgt. Nicholas Gendron, was seriously injured but was recently released from the hospital.
A memorial service was held Saturday at the Picatinny Arsenal for the recruiters, who were killed Feb. 23 when their government car veered off a poorly lit, winding road on the Denville-Randolph border and smashed into a tree.
In addition to Staff Sgt. Eric Shawn Maul, 31, who lived on the base, and Sgt. William Pascal, 27, of Newton, who were killed in the crash, the service also honored Cpl. David Webb Jr., 24, who was found dead March 5 in his Lake Hopatcong home.
He had been assigned to the Rockaway recruitment office to fill in after the crash; the cause of his death is still being investigated, police said.
Sgt. Jeffrey Morella, 24, of Manville, was the only man in the six-person Rockaway office not in the car that night. When he came to the podium he abandoned pages of notes to speak "from the heart," he said, of the group's close-knit, pal-around relationship. Gendron, the driver, also attended Saturday's service.
On stage under spotlights were three helmets sitting atop the men's weapons and boots, their dog tags slung over the weapons. As Marines filed out of the service, they briefly touched each pair of boots.
Ellie