RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Morris County) — Morris County honored the men and women who served in the wars following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks during a three-day commemoration at County College of Morris, including 13 Morris County service members who died in connection with those conflicts.
The national Iraq-Afghanistan “Remembering Our Fallen” memorial was displayed at CCM from Sept. 25 through Sept. 27 as part of a 25th anniversary commemoration of the Global War on Terrorism.
The traveling memorial features photographs, hometowns, military branches and causes of death for 5,473 service members among the more than 7,000 Americans who died during the post-9/11 wars.
Organizers also created two additional banners featuring 112 New Jersey service members for the CCM ceremony, bringing the total number represented at the college to 5,585. The memorial’s 2026 tour is its final national tour.
“We have a responsibility to remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country, but our responsibility does not end there,” said Morris County Commissioner Director Stephen H. Shaw. “We also have to support the veterans who came home and continue to live with the effects of their service.”
The weekend included a veterans dinner provided by Feeding Our Heroes on Friday, an opening ceremony and wreath presentation Saturday and a Gold Star remembrance with the families of two fallen soldiers Sunday.
The Remembering Our Fallen memorial, created by Patriotic Productions, was escorted to the CCM campus Sept. 24 by Warriors Watch Riders and assembled with help from college staff and volunteers.
During Saturday’s opening ceremony, Shaw and Commissioner Deputy Director John Krickus, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, presented a county proclamation declaring Sept. 24 through Sept. 27, 2026, “Remembering Our Fallen Tribute Days” in Morris County.
The proclamation was accepted by event coordinators Val DiGiacinto, president of Welcome Home Vets of New Jersey, and A.J. Luna and David Pearson, founders of the New Jersey Veterans Stakeholders Group.
According to data compiled by what was formerly known as the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, New Jersey lost 186 service members in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
Thirteen Morris County men died in connection with the wars and military operations that followed Sept. 11. Twelve were represented on the Remembering Our Fallen memorial:
- Jonathan Batista of Kinnelon
- Donald S. Brown of Roxbury
- Christopher B. Cosgrove III of Hanover Township
- Ryan Edward Doltz of Mine Hill
- Sean Grimes of Dover
- Ronald R. Harrison of Mount Olive
- Matthew G. Kantor of Long Hill
- Michael D. Kirspel Jr. of Dover and later Hopatcong
- Ramon J. Mendoza Jr. of Morris Plains
- Charles Robert Soltes Jr. of Boonton Township
- Vincent M. Sullivan of Chatham Township
- John Thomas Wroblewski of Jefferson Township
The 13th Morris County service member, Derek Tra McConnell of North Caldwell and Parsippany, was not represented on the national memorial but was remembered during Sunday’s Gold Star ceremony. His mother, Siobhan Fuller-McConnell, and other family members attended.
McConnell enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2009 and was assigned to Catamount, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment at Fort Drum. He deployed to Afghanistan in March 2011.
In July 2011, McConnell volunteered to lead soldiers into a small minefield after members of his platoon were wounded by a pressure-plate improvised explosive device. McConnell encountered two explosives, losing his left leg at the hip and his right leg from the knee and suffering other injuries. He received the Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device.
After more than a year of treatment in Maryland, McConnell returned to New Jersey in late 2012 and received a hero’s welcome in Parsippany. He died March 18, 2013, at age 23 from complications related to his injuries.
During Sunday’s remembrance, organizers announced plans to create a separate New Jersey memorial that would also recognize veterans who have been lost to suicide. Pearson, who is also assistant director of Veterans Services at Catholic Charities, Diocese of Paterson, said organizers are working to identify New Jersey’s fallen and create a memorial panel featuring their names and photographs, with plans to eventually offer the completed memorial to the state.
“We do not leave anyone behind,” said DiGiacinto.
Sunday’s program also included a remembrance of Staff Sgt. Jorge M. Oliveira, a New Jersey Army National Guard soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011.
New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs Director of Veterans Services Robert Brennan and Women Veterans Coordinator Lucy Del Gaudio presented a state proclamation to Oliveira’s brother on behalf of Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Michael Boll, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and veteran service officer with the Department of New Jersey VFW, presented gifts to the families of each fallen soldier.
The ceremony also addressed the lasting toll of the post-9/11 wars on veterans, including post-traumatic stress and suicide.
Brown University’s Costs of War Project estimated in 2021 that at least 30,177 U.S. service members and veterans of the post-9/11 wars had died by suicide, more than four times the 7,057 service members the study counted as killed in post-9/11 war operations at that time.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported 6,398 veteran suicide deaths in 2023, the most recent year for which national data was available. Estimates from VA and military research have placed the cumulative number of veteran suicides since the start of the Global War on Terrorism in 2001 at more than 140,000.
“We owe it to the families of those we lost to remember their names, and we owe it to the veterans who came home to make sure they have the support they need,” said County Commissioner Tayfun Selen. “Over the past two years, Morris County has more than doubled the space at our Veterans Services Office and expanded our staff to four Veterans Services Officers. Each week, a veterans services office is available at the County College of Morris Veterans Resource Center to help veterans and their families access the benefits and services they have earned.”
Selen and Commissioner Deb Smith presented a framed Morris County Resolution of Honor to Luna during Friday’s veterans dinner.
Luna served in the U.S. Army and New York Army National Guard from 2000 to 2006, including a 2004 deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II as a member of the 95th Military Police Battalion.
After his military service, Luna became Bergen County’s director of Veterans Services before co-founding the NJ SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group with Pearson. With support from state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco and Vietnam veteran Emerson Crooks, Luna, Pearson and DiGiacinto began coordinating the memorial’s presentation in Morris County earlier this year.
The weekend also included the presentation of a joint Senate-Assembly resolution from Bucco, Assemblywoman Aura Dunn and Assemblywoman Marisa Sweeney of the 25th Legislative District.
Speakers included Assemblyman Brian Bergen of the 26th Legislative District, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan; New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Commissioner Esther Chucaralao; and CCM Coordinator of Military and Veterans Services Shenandoah Ellis-Ulmer, a U.S. Air Force veteran.
Brig. Gen. Yvonne L. Mays, the adjutant general of New Jersey and commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Military Affairs, delivered the keynote address.
Other participants included Vincent Solomeno, a U.S. Army veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and New Jersey’s first commissioner of Veterans Affairs; retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Vivyen Ray, vice president of Human Resources and Labor Relations at CCM; Randolph Township Mayor Mark Forstenhausler; Rabbi Lenny Mandel; Deacon Richard Reck, chaplain of VFW Post 7333; and Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson.
Catholic Charities SSVF Outreach Specialist and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Kyle Hansen sang the national anthem and “God Bless America.” Larry Schillings, New Jersey state director of Bugles Across America, played taps each day.
The commemoration was organized through a partnership involving the NJ SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group, New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Department of Military Affairs, County College of Morris, Morris County, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Paterson, and Welcome Home Vets of New Jersey, with support from Feeding Our Heroes, Randolph VFW Post 7333 and other organizations, veterans and volunteers.
