Vigil a heartfelt
show of support
By sherry conohan
Staff Writer
Jeff Granit Residents of Eatontown gathered for a candlelight vigil at Wampum Park last Friday to show their support for the troops fighting in Iraq.
In the damp, frigid night air, the Eatontown community turned out for a candlelight vigil to express support for the troops in the United States-led coalition in the hot desert of Iraq half a world away.
Gathered in Wampum Memorial Park in a misting rain and nasty wind on Friday night, the men, women and children held candles, flashlights, flags and a smattering of signs expressing support for American servicemen and servicewomen posted in the Iraqi war zone.
They recited the pledge of allegiance at the opening of a brief program and at the conclusion sang "God Bless America," led by Sean Bell, a sophomore at Red Bank Catholic High School.
Waving over the patriotic scene at Veterans Plaza were the flags on three poles over the borough’s war monuments of the United States, the state of New Jersey and POW/MIA.
Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo told the crowd of 150 sitting and standing before him in the darkness, "We come to this place to show the world we are united in the cause of world peace and human rights."
Tarantolo said the people were there not because they were for or against the war, but to pray for a quick conclusion. Many of those present have loved ones in Iraq, he observed.
Eatontown is home to the Army’s Fort Monmouth.
War, the mayor said, can bring death and despair, but "a tyrant" needs to be stopped.
"War sometimes is necessary to maintain peace and human rights," he added. "We support [the troops] and their mission, and we pray for their safe return.
"Some have made the supreme sacrifice," Tarantolo noted.
Lt. Col. Anthony Reyes, the garrison commander at Fort Monmouth, spoke briefly to thank those who attended the rally for their support of all the men and women deployed in the war zone.
"They can feel your presence," he said.
The rally was organized by Operation Hands Over Seas, a grassroots group founded a month ago by two borough residents, Louise Keple and Ronnie Micciulla.
Keple has a son, Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Kiley Jr., a scout sniper, serving in Iraq.
Keple and her husband, Mark, also spoke briefly at the rally, and Louise Keple said before it began, as she gave out ribbons of navy blue and light blue, that her group was putting together care packages to send to the troops with toiletries, lip balm and black socks.
She said she was inspired to found the organization after reading the letter of a serviceman on the Internet detailing what the troops needed. At the time, she explained, she was having a hard time coping with her son’s assignment to the Iraqi war zone.
"It just grew and grew to the whole community," she said. "It’s just one team effort."
Keple said notes of support were being included in each package destined for the troops.
"They need to see positive things," she said. "They need to know the American people support them."
With the Keples at the candlelight vigil were Louise Keple’s mother and Kiley’s grandmother, Louise Willard, of Eatontown; Kiley’s stepmother, Lisa Kiley, of Barnegat; his three sisters, Nicole, 13, Chelsea, 11, and Cara, 5; and his aunt, Sherry Kiley, of Waretown. Sherry Kiley said Kiley’s father — her brother — couldn’t be there because he had to work that night.
Councilman Charles E. "Chuck" DaVis said with Fort Monmouth and Naval Weapons Depot Earle so close, it was appropriate for the borough to show its support.
He recalled, as he waited for the ceremony to begin, how he went to Monmouth Regional High School and how half the people there had a relationship with one base or the other, either as dependents of someone stationed there or with a family member employed there.
As for the cold night, he said, "Our troops certainly are undergoing a lot worse than this."
Donald Wood, a chief warrant officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, was in the audience with daughters Brittany, 8, a third-grader at the Margaret L. Vetter School, and Allison, 10, a fifth-grader at the Vetter School. His wife, Master Sgt. Lisa Wood, who’s on active duty with the Marines in the 6th Motor Transport Battalion in Red Bank, was sitting in the VIP section with those on the program and placed a bouquet of red flowers representing the Marines in a wreath honoring all the services at the program’s end.
"I think it’s wonderful," Wood said of the candlelight vigil as he snapped photographs of the scene with his digital camera. "I’m going to send pictures by e-mail tonight to our troops over there."