The Ocean Signal | November 22nd - December 5th, 2013
Crowds and Fly-Over Mark Return of Toms River Veterans Day Parade
by Erik Weber TOMS RIVER - Students, downtown office workers and residents returned to honor veterans and their sacrifices in the first Veteran's Day parade and ceremony since the aftermath of last October's Hurricane Sandy forced the cancelation of the 2012 event. Beginning on the northern part of Main Street on the crisp fall morning, active and retired members of our armed forces, marching bands from township and county high schools and middle schools, township officials, boy and girl scouts, local law enforcement and volunteer emergency response organizations, a riderless horse, antique car and tractor enthusiasts and more traveled south to Washington Street before turning east and continuing past town hall and beneath an American flag draped between two ladder fire trucks standing outside the Toms River Library at Courthouse Lane. Elementary school student safety officer from the Toms River Regional School District were on hand to greet the procession, often carrying banners displaying their school name, flags and placards showing the various branches of service. As the parade wound down, many of those along the route gathered along the Washington Street sidewalk in front of town hall as local clergy, officials from the township's governing body and David Perez, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars A. Jay Weeks Post 6063, stood on the outside portico and held ceremony to thank military servicemen and women - including the parade's grand marshal, United States Marine Corps Sgt. William P. Carolan, a 2004 graduate of Toms Riv-
er High School North - and bring focus to the meaning of the 11th of November. Toms River Veterans Commission Chairman Paul Wnek introduced Reverend Dr. Michael Mazer, of East Dover Baptist Church, who opened with a benediction remembering those who served in the nation's armed forces, though "we cannot comprehend or summarize in words their experiences which brought them face to face oftentimes with the enemy and with death itself." He further asked that in the future there would be no need for war, and that we "resolve our differences without the need of discharging our young people to the fields of battle." The Toms River High School South Chorus, led by Director Philip Martin, then sang the National Anthem on a nearby walkway. Mayor Thomas P. Kelaher, a former Marine, next took the podium to first introduce other governing body officials and then note the challenges of the previous year due to Hurricane Sandy before noting three dedicated memorials on roadways within the township honoring former residents and servicemen who were killed in action during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Those servicemen include Marine Pfc. Vincent Michael Frassetto, a 2003 graduate of Toms River High School North, who was killed on September 7th, 2006 at 21 years of age when his convoy truck was struck by an improvised explosive device in Anbar province, Iraq, less than a month after leaving for duty; Marine Maj. James Matthew Weis, a 1991 graduate of Toms River High School North, who was killed on July 22nd, 2010 at 37 years of age during combat operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, where he
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there, he said, 'Admiral, I looked around the room and I was the oldest officer. All the other officers had younger families, and I stepped forward,'" he recalled. "That's the type of people we have in our military every day." Mr. Hill then stated that with the recent typhoon devastation in the Philippines, it would be the Marines stationed in Guam who would be part of the early relief efforts. "So around the world, we answer the call for freedom, and we also answer the call for people who are suffering," he continued. "So thank God for our military and thank God for all our veterans who have served." Sgt. Carolan then approached the podium and thanked those gathered before VFW 6063 Commander Perez read the names of those middle and high school students who won placement in the
annual Toms River Veteran's Commission essay writing contest on "What Patriotism Means to Me." Winners included Toms River High School South's Jared Freudenberg in first place and Toms River High School East's Declan Neilsen and Braden DeMartin in second and third for the high school level. Intermediate school winners included Haley Leonard, Abigail Morsch and Samuel Conover in first, second and third place respectively. Cmdr. Perez thanked all participants in the essay contest and invited any students who would be in either the intermediate or high school level within the district to submit essays next year on the theme chosen then as "It's an honor to read those essays, [and] it's a very hard thing to pick out the winners." Following a rifle salute on the lawn adjacent town hall
- a coordination issue led to the wreaths being delivered late to the ceremony - Toms River High School South's Nick Ziolkowski played taps and the ceremony was closed by Cmdr. Perez and a symbolic fly-over of two fixed-wing aircraft piloted by members of the Ocean Air Support Squadron, also known as the "Black Sheep," a volunteer air patrol arm of the Ocean County Sheriff's Department.
was serving as a helicopter pilot; and Navy Special Warfare Operator 3rd Class (SEAL) Denis C. Miranda, a 2003 graduate of Toms River High School East who was killed on September 21st, 2010 at 24 years of age in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Qalat, Afghanistan during combat operations. "We honor all of our troops today, past and present, and it's particularly appropriate now because we need the troops and the military as much today as we have in the past," Mayor Kelaher said. "You read the paper today and watch the news media, all you have to do is look around and see all the trouble spots in the world where at any minute it could blow out of proportion." He then listed several contemporary global issues that appeared to present conflicts that could grow into larger problems. "So we have to be vigilant, we have to rely on our military and it's good that we honor them and let them all know that we support what they're doing," the mayor closed before introducing Councilman Maurice B. "Mo" Hill, an accomplished rear admiral with the Navy, retired, practicing in the field of dentistry. Mr. Hill then spoke of several veterans who he said represented most of those serving in the military citizen soldiers, including a Philadelphia police officer who was mobilized for the Gulf War in 1991, and a 55-year-old Navy captain and former Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam who stated he couldn't financially afford to be recalled to service after the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks but who showed up for service anyway. "He had already been in combat, [and] when I asked him what he was doing
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