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MONTGOMERY MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY MAY 27, 2024

Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee will host a Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday, May 27 at 9:00 a.m. at the Memorial located in Montgomery Veterans Memorial Park, next to the upper parking lot on Harlingen Road, Belle Mead.  (See Google maps location.)

The Ceremony will feature opening and closing remarks from Veterans Committee Chairperson Dimitra Bairaktaris, the lowering of the flags by scouts, a message from a spiritual leader, reflections by Mayor Neena Singh, and the playing of Taps by a live bugler. Please join us to honor and remember our military service members who died while serving our country.

In the case of inclement weather the ceremony will take place in the chambers room in the Montgomery Municipal Center, 100 Community Drive, Skillman, NJ 08558. If a poor weather forecast dictates a decision to change the venue to indoors, an announcement will be made on the township website and Facebook page the week of the event.

LEARN ABOUT MONTGOMERY’S PURPLE HEART RECIPIENTS

Montgomery Township has the honorable distinction of being designated a Purple Heart Community.  As part of the privilege of remembering and acknowledging the sacrifices of those who gave so much for the freedom and opportunities we have today, the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee (MVMC) has created a repository of stories of “Purple Heart in Our Community.”

Please visit our Purple Heart Recipients webpage (link in left menu) to learn the stories and see photos of these amazing veterans!

If this distinction includes you or someone in your family and you have not yet spoken with the MVMC, please contact us via email at: mvmc@twp.montgomery.nj.us or call (908) 359-8211 Ext. 2279.

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VETERANS DAY
THURS., NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Procession 3:00 pm  Ceremony 3:30pm

Montgomery Township will celebrate and honor our Veterans on Veterans Day, November 11th, 2021 starting with a Procession commencing at 3:00 p.m. at the intersection of Harlingen Road and Devon Drive and ending at the Montgomery Veterans Park on Harlingen Road. The Procession will be followed by a Ceremony starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial.

The celebration will include Presentation of Colors by the Boy and Girl Scouts, readings from Montgomery Lower Middle School students, musical selections by the Montgomery High School Band, recognition of our Veterans present, Rifle Salute by the American Legion Post 339 and the playing of Taps.  Speakers will include Reverend Christopher Heitkamp of the Harlingen Church; Mayor Devra Keenan of Montgomery Township; Guest Speaker Vincent Barragan, Captain, United States Army; Lisa Romano, Vice Principal of the Montgomery Township Lower Middle School; Mary McLoughlin, the Superintendent of Montgomery Township Schools; Mike Maloney of Rolling Thunder and Dimitra Bairaktaris, Chairperson of the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee.   Come join us!

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TO THE ATTENTION OF ALL MONTGOMERY MILITARY FAMILIES

Veterans Memorial Committee Seeking Purple Heart Recipients to Honor

 

Attention all US Military Veterans, Active-Duty Armed Service Members, and their Families residing within Montgomery Township:  We are a designated Purple Heart Community, and as part of this honorable distinction the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee would like to recognize all Township residents who have earned or have had someone in their immediate family (including spouses and grandparents) who has earned the Purple Heart award.

Please contact:  mvmc@twp.montgomery.nj.us or (908) 359-8211 Ext. 2279 so that we can identify and recognize all our Purple Heart recipients and their families.  Thank you!

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Memorial Day Ceremony May 31, 2021

The Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee will be hosting a Memorial Day Ceremony on May 31st, 2021 at 9:00am at the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Park on Harlingen Road in Belle Mead, NJ.  The Ceremony will feature lowering of the flags by Montgomery Township Boy and Girl Scouts, a spiritual message provided by Reverend Christopher Heitkamp, reflections provided by Montgomery Mayor Devra Keenan and the playing of Taps.  Please join us on Memorial Day to honor and remember all our military service members who have died while serving our country.

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In honor of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day March 29th, the Montgomery Twp. Veterans Memorial Committee would like to share the following impactful video message:

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VETERANS DAY CEREMONY 2020

VIRTUAL CEREMONY  VIDEO, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11th

The Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee has created a special Veterans Day 2020 Ceremony video which includes a narration of our ceremony using images, video messages, and more!

The video includes a narration of our ceremony by our committee chair using images for certain parts of our program and video messages from: Mayor Sadaf Jaffer, a spiritual leader, a guest speaker, a Rolling Thunder representative, and a special presentation from the Students of Montgomery Lower Middle School. A public in-person ceremony is not being held this year as a safety precaution due to the covid-19 pandemic. Please view above.

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SEE PHOTOS OF THE 2019 VETERANS DAY OBSERVANCE

Monday, November 11 the Montgomery community came together to give back to those who have given so much in service to our country.  U.S. service person, past and present, were honored at the Montgomery Veterans Memorial in Montgomery Veterans Park, Harlingen Road., Belle Mead.

The observance included Montgomery students reading their selected “Letters to Veterans.” 2019’s brief ceremony was held at 4:30 PM since it was a school day, so that more students and their families would be able to attend.

Please see this link for more detail:  VETERANS DAY OBSERVANCE PROGRAM

ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Please join us on Monday, November 11 to give back to those who have given so much in service to our country!  All U.S. service person, past and present, will be honored. Held at the Montgomery Veterans Memorial in Montgomery Veterans Park, Harlingen Road., Belle Mead.

This year’s observance will include Montgomery students reading their selected “Letters to Veterans.” This year’s brief ceremony will be held at 4:30 PM since that Monday is a school day, so that more students and their families are able to attend. Due to the later hour, while the Montgomery High School Marching Band will play and first responders will be present, there will not be a procession first this year.

Please see this link for more detail:  VETERANS DAY OBSERVANCE PROGRAM

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Memorial Day Flag Raising Mon., May 28th

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May102018

 

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Former Mayor Robert Kress, MVMC Member, 1939-2018

We are very sorry to share news of the passing of an integral member of the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee family, former Montgomery Mayor Robert Kress, on April 17, 2018.  Please follow this link to his obituary: https://memorials.bakerpostfh.com/robert-kress/3487023/obituary.php

Mr. Kress is fondly remembered and greatly appreciated for his many, many years of active volunteer service to Montgomery Township.  These included his tireless work from the very beginning in 1991 to fundraise for and with great joy at last, to oversee the construction of the Montgomery Veterans Memorial in 2011.  He was also active in developing the Veterans Day Observance Program, a well-attended event honoring our veterans, which has been held every year since the Memorial was built on Veterans Day, November 11th. He will be missed.

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Veterans Day Observance Nov. 11th

Montgomery Veterans Memorial
Upper Parking Area
Montgomery Veterans Park
Harlingen Road
Belle Mead, NJ 08502

You’re invited! Rain or Shine!

In sharing President Eisenhower’s 1954 Veterans Day Proclamation – “In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose” – The Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee would like to invite everyone to our Special Veterans Day celebration this November 11th.

This Veterans Day marks the 7th Celebration at our Memorial, located in Montgomery Veterans Park off of Harlingen Road in Belle Mead.

Veterans Day is about Honoring Those Who Have Served and perhaps nowhere is that more important than in Montgomery!

Our very namesake, General Richard Montgomery, was a distinguished leader who served our country honorably and is widely recognized today as America’s first national hero after his courageous efforts in battle and falling on December 31st, 1775 in the Battle of Quebec. See: https://www.veteran.express/montgomery.express.html

The one hour Veterans Day event will include a procession and performance by the Montgomery High School Marching Band and first responders, presentation of the colors, patriotic speeches by local officials, and much more.  Remarks will be offered by Congressman Leonard Lance, Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, Joseph Kotch, a member of the Rolling Thunder veterans organization, Montgomery boy scout Srikar Surapaneni and girl scout Julia Garaffa.

This year will include something new: special costumed re-enactors from both the Civil War and WW II  including a President Lincoln Impersonator in full dress. They will be set up near the Veterans Memorial from approximately 10:00am to 2:00pm – well before and after the day’s celebration and ceremony.

Additionally, the POW/MIA CHAIR OF HONOR will be on display. The perpetually empty chair helps everyone to remember those service members who have not yet returned home – some 82,429 unaccounted for as of October 2017.

For the Procession & Ceremony itself – Please plan to arrive by 10:45am as Harlingen Road leading to the upper parking lot in both directions will be closed for the parade.

All are welcome to this family friendly event! The Veterans Memorial as well as the 911 Memorial and all areas of Veterans Park are now fully accessible to those in wheelchairs and with walkers etc.

Source: Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee

PURPLE HEART COMMUNITY  DEDICATION

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

6:00 PM
Montgomery Twp. Municipal Building
2261 Rt. 206, Belle Mead, NJ 08502

This will be a brief ceremony to acknowledge Montgomery Township’s new designation as a “Purple Heart Community”.  This designation recognizes the sacrifice of all military members who have been wounded or killed while serving the nation in a time of war.  Members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart will be present.

Keynote speaker will be Brigadier General Michael L. Cunniff is Adjutant General of the New Jersey Army and Air National Guard.

Accepting the honor on behalf of Montgomery and reading a Township resolution will be Montgomery Mayor Ed Trzaska, Administrator Donato Nieman, and Township Clerk Donna Kukla.

This event is intentionally set on the anniversary of Township resident Ashley Henderson-Huff being killed in Iraq. [KIA: 9.19.06] The United States military awarded First Lt. Huff the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. She was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Combat Action Badge.  There will also be a special plaque and presentation honoring the memory of Lt. Henderson-Huff.  This brave soldier spent a good portion of her childhood in Montgomery and attended Montgomery High School.

There will also be special plaques and presentations honoring the memories of both Lt. Ashley Henderson-Huff and SP4 Stephen H. Warner, a young war correspondent killed in action in Vietnam.  Both of these brave soldiers hailed from Montgomery and attended Montgomery High School.

Although Ashley and Stephen were most the most recent, there are eight soldiers with stars next to their names on the Montgomery Veterans Memorial who were killed in action.  The eight are (in alphabetical order):

• George L Brown
• James Cray
• John A Cray
• Arthur S Dixon
• Ashley Henderson-Huff
• Michael Malko
• Charles Rospopa
• Stephen H Warner

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PATRIOTS DAY OPEN HOUSE

Monday September 11, 2017

9-11 Monument
Upper Parking Area
Montgomery Veterans Park
Harlingen Road
Belle Mead, NJ 08502

Two ‘open house’ hours of observance with MVMC volunteer staff available to answer questions will occur on Monday, September 11th at 9:45 AM and again at 7 PM. These two times are set up to foster remembrance and quiet reflection on the tragic events of the day as well as the bravery displayed by those who responded to the attack.  This is also a time to foster awareness when those who do not remember that day can learn about the occurrence and how it impacted specific lives, their loved ones, and indeed, all of America. The recently improved 9-11 Memorial site is also available daily during park hours to any respectful visitors.

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Memorial Day Ceremony

GO HERE FOR PHOTOS OF EVENT

10:00 am, Monday, May 29, 2017

Montgomery Veterans Memorial
Upper Parking Area
Montgomery Veterans Park
Harlingen Road
Belle Mead, NJ 08502

Come join us Monday, May 29 – Memorial Day 2017 – at the Montgomery Veterans Memorial in Montgomery Veterans Park for an hour to honor the servicemen and servicewomen who gave their lives serving the United States. There will be a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial at 10:00 am, concluding at the nearby 911 Memorial. The event will be held rain or shine.

The Ceremony will include brief speeches by (in order) Donato Nieman, Township Administrator; Mark Caliguire, Somerset County Freeholder and Veterans Memorial Committee Advisor; Pat Graham, Veterans Memorial Committee Liaison; and Ed Trzaska, Mayor of Montgomery and Veterans Memorial Committee Advisor.

We will conclude at the 911 Memorial with a re-dedication and ceremonious flag-raising using a Capital-flown flag provided by Congressman Leonard Lance. Montgomery Township Resident Eric Bulger, Retired Police Officer who was at Ground Zero on 9 11 and the weeks following will also speak.

The 9-11 Memorial has been updated with a new patio area and landscaping through the EP Henry HEROSCAPING Program. All hardscaping materials have been donated by EP Henry and additional materials, to include labor and landscaping, have been donated through a team-effort by Montgomery Township Public Works, Montgomery Cub/Boy Scouts, and several local businesses.

The ceremony will last approximately 30 minutes and there will be a 30 minute open house of both memorials afterwards.

The POW/MIA CHAIR OF HONOR will be on display and members of the Veterans Memorial Committee will be on hand to answer questions.

Both memorials are accessible from the newly paved Upper Parking Lot of the park and there is handicapped parking and accessibility (see locator map).

More information about the 9-11 restoration project can be found at: http://www.landscapemarshal.vet/911-memorial-1.html  and info on Revolutionary War Hero General Richard Montgomery, our Township’s namesake, can be found at: http://www.landscapemarshal.vet/montgomery-initiative.html

The Montgomery Veterans Memorial is located adjacent to the upper parking lot of Montgomery Veterans Park, Harlingen Road, approx. 1/8 mile northeast of the corner of Harlingen and Devon Road, before Estates Blvd. (see locator map.)  Presented by the Montgomery Twp. Veterans Memorial Committee. For further information, email the MVMC at mvmc@twp.montgomery.nj.us .

https://montgomeryveteransmemorial.org/category/news/

During the years 1991 through 2001 when the committee first began to consider the nature of a veterans memorial for Montgomery Township, we firmly believed that a key element of the memorial should be the names of Montgomery residents who had served our nation in either the armed forces or the merchant marine during times of war. We recognized that Montgomery’s boundaries have changed over the years, and decided that those who lived in what is no longer part of Montgomery would be considered Montgomery residents provided where they lived was part of Montgomery at the time of their service. Specifically, those who lived in parts of what are now Princeton and Rocky Hill during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are considered to have been Montgomery residents.

One of the most traditional ways for communities to recognize veterans is to include only the names of those who were residents of the community at the time they entered their military service or service in the merchant marine. However, this criterion was virtually impossible to implement, particularly when researching the names of those who served during our earliest wars in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Since it was also our desire to be inclusive, rather than exclusive, when identifying those Montgomery residents who had served, we initially decided to include the names of all Montgomery residents, past and present, who had served in times of war, rather than just listing those who were residents of Montgomery at the time they entered the service.

Our research through the year 2000 has yielded the names of approximately eight hundred and fifty Montgomery residents who have served our nation in times of war. While it may not be traditional to include all these names on veterans memorials, we believe it is important that they be included because they are the names of people who have been the very fabric of Montgomery Township and who have determined the nature and content of our community as we enter the third millennium.

Early in the third millennium the nature of Montgomery’s population has changed significantly. Along with our growth from around 10,000 people in 1990 to nearly 30,000 people today, we have become a much more transient community. In addition to our new retirement and assisted living communities, we also have developed a core population of younger and upwardly mobile families. These families are attracted by our proximity to a number of major corporate centers as well as by the outstanding reputation of our school system. Because of their upward mobility, many of these families move on in a relatively short period of time. While some of these residents may have served, they are more properly and traditionally recognized by their hometowns at the time they entered the armed forces or the merchant marine. The Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee therefore believes that, beginning with the third millennium, it is appropriate to add to the Montgomery Veterans Memorial only the names of those who are Montgomery residents when they enter the armed forces or the merchant marine and who serve during times of war.

It is important to remember that our web site is intended to provide additional and appropriate information supporting the memorial. While we chose not to include on the memorial itself the names of those who, beginning with the third millennium, were not residents of Montgomery when their service began, we will include these names on our website. While this presents some administrative burdens as we could well have a significant number of veterans moving into Montgomery in any given year, these burdens are not insurmountable. In addition, a web site is much easier to correct and update than the granite stellae at the memorial.

The criteria listed above provide several significant advantages. First, we will always recognize the wartime service and sacrifice of those who brought Montgomery Township from its very beginnings to the third millennium. Second, we will always recognize those from Montgomery who enter the armed forces and merchant marine during future times of war. Third, and in keeping with our original goal, through the capabilities of our website we will always be able to recognize all the residents of Montgomery who have served our nation in times of war, without regard to whether or not they were Montgomery residents when their service began.