Morris County Honors Service Members Lost to Global War on Terrorism
Published on September 29, 2026
National Iraq-Afghanistan Memorial Displayed at County College of Morris
Twenty-five years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Morris County this past weekend honored the men and women who answered the call to serve in the wars that followed, including 13 Morris County men who died in connection with those conflicts.
The national Iraq-Afghanistan “Remembering Our Fallen” memorial was displayed at County College of Morris (CCM) from Sept. 25 through Sept. 27 as the centerpiece 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.
The 2026 tour is its final national tour for the memorial. For the CCM ceremony, organizers also created two additional banners featuring 112 New Jersey service members, bringing the total number of service members represented at the college to 5,585.
“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.”
View Photos from the Remembering Our Fallen Memorial Ceremony at CCM
View the Video of the Opening Ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 26
The three-day ceremony included a veterans dinner provided by Feeding Our Heroes on Friday, an opening ceremony with a wreath presentation on Saturday, and a Gold Star remembrance with the families of two fallen soldiers on Sunday. The Remembering Our Fallen memorial, created by Patriotic Productions, was escorted to the college campus on Sept. 24 by Warriors Watch Riders, where it was assembled with the help of CCM staff and volunteers.
During Saturday’s opening ceremony, Director Shaw and Commissioner Deputy Director John Krickus, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, presented a Morris County proclamation declaring Sept. 24 through 27, 2026 “Remembering Our Fallen Tribute Days” in Morris County. Accepting the proclamation were lead event coordinators: Val DiGiacinto, president of Welcome Home Vets of New Jersey, and New Jersey Veterans Stakeholders Group founders, A.J. Luna and David Pearson.
New Jersey lost 186 service members in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, according to data compiled by what was formerly known as the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Thirteen Morris County men died in connection with the wars and military operations that followed Sept. 11. Twelve of those men 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
One Morris County service member, Derek Tra McConnell of North Caldwell and Parsippany, was not represented on the national memorial. McConnell was remembered during the Gold Star ceremony attended by his mother, Siobhan Fuller-McConnell, and other family members.
McConnell, 23, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2009 and was assigned to Catamount, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment at Fort Drum. He was deployed to Afghanistan in March 2011. In July of that year, he volunteered to lead soldiers into a small minefield after members of his platoon were wounded by a pressure-plate improvised explosive device. He encountered two explosives and lost his left leg at the hip and his right leg from the knee, along with suffering numerous 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 was engaged to his high school sweetheart, Krystina Dressler, and the couple had won a wedding through a military-family giveaway. McConnell died March 18, 2013, from complications related to his injuries.
During Sunday’s remembrance, event organizers announced plans to create a separate New Jersey memorial that also recognizes 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 the intention of eventually offering the completed memorial to the State of New Jersey.
“We do not leave anyone behind,” said DiGiacinto.
The Sunday 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 ServicesRobert Brennan and Women Veterans Coordinator Lucy Del Gaudio honored Oliveira by presenting a New Jersey state proclamation to his brother on behalf of Gov. Mikie Sherrill.Michael Boll, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Veteran Service Officer with the Department of New Jersey VFW, presented a gift to the families of each fallen soldier.
The ceremony also emphasized the devastating effects of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and the lasting toll of the post-9/11 wars on service members and veterans. 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 (VA) reported that 6,398 veterans died by suicide in 2023, the most recent year for which national data is 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.”
Commissioners Selen and Deb Smith presented a framed Morris County Resolution of Honor to A.J. Luna during Friday’s veterans dinner. Luna served in the United States 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.
During the ceremony, Luna reflected on the loss of a friend whose son also was also serving in Iraq. The father had confided in Luna that he was worried about his son’s deployment. The son made it home, but his father did not.
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 the support of 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 with support from partners throughout the county and state.
The weekend included the presentation of a joint Senate-Assembly resolution from Sen. Bucco, Assemblywoman Aura Dunn and Assemblywoman Marisa Sweeney of the 25th Legislative District, and remarks from 26th Legislative District Assemblyman Brian Bergen, who is 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.
The ceremony also included remarks from Vincent Solomeno, U.S. Army veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and New Jersey’s first Commissioner of Veterans Affairs; welcome remarks from retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Vivyen Ray, vice president of Human Resources and Labor Relations at CCM; a proclamation from Randolph Township Mayor Mark Forstenhausler; prayers from Rabbi Lenny Mandel and Deacon Richard Reck, chaplain of VFW Post 7333, and an invocation by 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; the County of Morris; Catholic Charities, Diocese of Paterson; and Welcome Home Vets of New Jersey, with support from Feeding Our Heroes, Randolph VFW Post 7333, and numerous other organizations, veterans and volunteers.
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Photo 1: Posing for a photo with the framed resolution from the Morris County Commissioners are, from left, Morris County Commissioner Deputy Director John Krickus; A.J. Luna, co-founder of NJ SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group; David Pearson, co-founder of NJ SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group and assistant director of Veterans Services at Catholic Charities; Morris County Commissioner Director Stephen H. Shaw; and Val DiGiacinto, president of Welcome Home Vets of New Jersey.
Photo 2: Members of the audience with a few of the panels of photos of veterans who died during the War on Terror in the background.
Photo 3: Veterans listen during the ceremony with a few of the panels of photos of veterans who died during the War on Terror in the background.
Photo 4: Rows of stands with panels of photos of the more than 5,000 veterans who died during the War on Terror and those who succumbed as a result.
Photo 5: Posing for a photo with the Gold Star families. From left, Lucy Del Gaudio, Women Veterans Coordinator for the N.J. Department of Veterans Affairs; Deacon Richard Reck, chaplain of Randolph VFW Post 7333; Dave Pearson, co-founder of NJ SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group and assistant director of Veterans Services at Catholic Charities; Marco Oliveria holding the N.J. proclamation for his brother, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jorge Oliviera; Siobhan Fuller-McConnell holds a portrait of her son, U.S. Army Sgt. Derek McConnell; Michael Boll, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Veteran Service Officer with the Department of New Jersey VFW; A.J. Luna, co-founder of NJ SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group; and Val DiGiacinto, president of Welcome Home Vets of New Jersey.
Photo 6: A family views panels of photos of service members who lost their lives on the Remembering Our Fallen memorial.