EAST WINDSOR: Post to be renamed in honor of fallen soldier

By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   EAST WINDSOR — A fallen soldier with local roots will be honored by the Jewish War Veterans Central Jersey Post 444 in Twin Rivers on Sunday. The group will rename its post in his honor.
   Spc. Marc Seiden, a 1995 Hightstown High School graduate, was killed in action in Jan. 2004 when his convoy was ambushed in Baghdad. Spc. Seiden, 26 at the time of his death, had been in Iraq for nine months. He was only weeks away from the end of his tour and was set to return his parents’ home in Twin Rivers.
   Spc. Seiden’s mother, Gail, still lives in East Windsor. His father, Jack, died in 2007.
   To honor his sacrifice, Post 444 will be officially renamed Spc. Marc Seiden Post 444. The ceremony — open to the public — will take place at 10 a.m. at East Windsor Fire Station 2, at 73 Twin Rivers Drive.
   ”The idea came to do something tangible and permanent for him,” said Post 444 member Charles Levine. “Our post has never had an actual name, so we thought this would be something that would permanently recognize him and his service. This way, his name will live on.”
   The dedication will include comments from post members Lt. Col. Matt Weingast and Maj. Aaron Sears, both of whom also served in Iraq. East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov also will speak, and various local and state officials have been invited to the event.
   ”It will be very dignified; very proper,” Mr. Levine said of the event.
   Described in 2004 by his mother as a “daredevil,” Spc. Seiden was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne. He had enlisted shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
   His unit had been assigned to protect an oil refinery near Baghdad, and another soldier, Solomon Bangayan, of Vermont, also was killed in the attack that claimed his life.
   Gail Seiden could not be reached for comment.