Garden
honors fallen soldier and friend
Kosovo vet
was one of the squad members
The Sentinel
(http://nbs.gmnews.com/News/2003/0828/Front_Page/002.html)
North Brunswick Brownie Troop 2043
hopes their garden will bloom to help fill the void in their friends’
lives.
A little more than two years after
beloved resident and junior Rescue Squad member Spc. James T. Sakofsky
died while on a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, North Brunswick Brownie
Troop 2043 and the members of the North Brunswick First Aid and Rescue
Squad dedicated a memorial garden in his honor.
"The Brownies chose to erect this
garden as the Rescue Squad’s daily reflection of their permanent memory
of James," Linda Warhaftig, rescue squad member and Brownie Troop 2043
leader said. "He was my friend and my children knew him."
Warhaftig presided over the
dedication ceremony held in the front of the Ridgewood Avenue Rescue
Squad on Aug. 23.
"It is important, especially now
more than ever, to support all of our soldiers so that they are never
left behind or forgotten," Warhaftig said.
The garden, which surrounds a large
monument dedicated to the memory of all of the squad’s deceased
members, is comprised of brightly colored perennials.
Ron and Clinton Monuments of North
Brunswick made a marker bearing Sakofsky’s name for the garden.
Sakofsky, 24, of the 551st Military
Police Company, was killed June 1, 2001 when his vehicle crashed on
patrol while assigned to the Kosovo Stabilization Force. He is buried
at Arlington National Cemetery.
Sakofsky, a member of the North
Brunswick Rescue Squad for over six years, served as an emergency
medical technician.
"There will forever be a void in
the hearts of the Rescue Squad members who had the pleasure of knowing
James," Warhaftig said.
In honor of Sakofsky, the Township
Council dedicated the intersection of Cranbury Cross Road and Linwood
Place, where Sakofsky lived, as James T. Sakofsky Way earlier this year.
Warhaftig said the Brownie Troop,
comprised of Kelsey Aloia, Morgan Comunale, Lauren Illes, Ashleyann
Kaltschmid, Brianna Mussman, Dorie and Sammy Porwitch, Deanna Stoika
and Lauren Wistreich, came up with the idea for the memorial garden
more than two years ago.
"When Sept. 11 happened,
everything was postponed," Warhaftig said. "They really worked
hard to finish it in the last three months."
The troop received support from
various individuals and local businesses, including
Pinizzotto Construction Supply, the Livingston Park Nursery, Ron and
Clinton Monuments, and the North Brunswick Rescue, Police and Fire
departments among many others.