Montgomery Township Memorial Day
Posted on May 29, 2017
On Monday, May 29 a special Memorial Day ceremony was held at Montgomery Veterans Park for an hour to honor the servicemen and servicewomen who gave their lives serving the United States.
The ceremony, organized by the Montgomery Twp. Veterans Memorial Committee, began at the Veterans Memorial at 10:00 am and concluded with a flag raising to mark the refurbishment at the nearby 911 Memorial. Despite the rainy weather, many local residents turned out to honor lost servicemen and women.
Speakers included Mark Caliguire, Somerset County Freeholder and MVMC Advisor; Pat Graham, Montgomery Twp. Committeewoman and MVMC Advisor; Donato Nieman, Montgomery Twp. Administrator; Ed Trzaska, Montgomery Twp. Mayor and MVMV Advisor; Eric Bulger, 9-11 Responder and Retired Port Authority Police Officer; and Hugette Castaneda, formerly of the MVMC, who was integral to the Twp.'s receipt of a granite piece from the fallen Trade Center Twin Towers.
Invocation and opening and closing remarks were made by Mike Maloney, Chairman of the MVMC, who spearheaded and organized the 9-11 Memorial reconstruction by volunteers. Gratefully acknowledged are the paver stones and other supplies donated by E.P. Henry as part of their Heroscape Program.
By LEA KAHN, Staff Writer - May 25, 2017
Montgomery Township’s Memorial Day celebration, set for May 29 at Montgomery Veterans Park on Harlingen Road, will not include a parade – but it will include a re-dedication ceremony for the 9/11 Memorial.
The event, which begins at 10 a.m., will feature a short ceremony at the Veterans Memorial. Somerset County Freeholder Mark Caliguire will offer remarks. Township Administrator Donato Nieman and Township Committee member Patricia Graham also will offer remarks. Mayor Ed Trzaska will wrap up the ceremony. Following the ceremony at the Veterans Memorial, which lists the names of Montgomery Township veterans from the beginning of the nation until today, attendees will walk 600 feet to the 9/11 Memorial.
The 9/11 Memorial, which has just been updated, will be re-dedicated. An American flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 11, 2016 and that has been provided by U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, will be raised on the new flagpole., Eric Bulger, who is a Montgomery Township resident and a retired Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer, will make some remarks. He was at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001 and helped in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center.
The refurbished 9/11 Memorial includes new pavers, on which are inscribed the names of three victims who had Montgomery Township ties., Steven Goldstein, 35, had started work at Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center a few weeks before the attack. He left behind a wife and two young children., Philip L. Parker, 53, was a senior vice president at Aon Corporation, and he was visiting the company’s office on the 99th floor of the World Trade Center. He was married and had one daughter., Brian Thomas Cummins, 38, was raised in Belle Mead and lived in Manasquan. He was at work as an equity trader and partners with Cantor Fitzgerald at its office on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center. He was single.
Mike Maloney, who chairs the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee, said the Memorial Day ceremony also acknowledges the military service members who died on 9/11 – not at the World Trade Center, but at the Pentagon., “In some ways, this is worse,” Maloney said., When a soldier or sailor or airman goes off to war, there is an expectation that he or she may die in battle, Maloney said., But those who were killed at the Pentagon had no such expectation when they kissed their spouse and children goodbye on that morning and went off to work, Maloney said., They were killed on American soil – not on a battlefield far away from home.