Walking into the Washington Township Council chambers, it’s hard to miss the township’s Veterans Wall of Honor.
The structure features a plaque for each of its military members, including a photo and information about the vet’s time in service. Fifteen more vets were acknowledged during a ceremony on Dec. 13 as additions to the 2023 wall list.
Councilman Donald Brown Jr. read the names: Stephen Alexander, Air Force; Daniel Altieri, Army; Donald Brown Sr., Navy, Louis DiLossi, Air Force; Joseph Fisona, Navy; John McCann, Army; Denise Pavan, Army; Gary Pavan, Marines; Mark Phillips, Coast Guard; Vincenzo Poppa, Air Force; John Robertson Jr., Navy and Marines; Joseph Rementer, Navy; Fred Tomlin; Army; Glen Walters, Army; and Richard Zambino, Air Force.
The Veterans Wall of Honor ceremony was hosted by Lori Morello, township director of senior programs and community affairs. Acting Mayor Anthony DellaPia opened with remarks and speakers included state Sen. Fred H. Madden Jr. and Peter Amoroso, commander of the township’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post.
Amoroso appreciates the support the township gives to the veterans, calling it “phenomenal.” New on the wall this year is a shadow display box that contains all the ribbons earned by VFW post members from World War II on, an idea 25 years in the making after much input and several design phases.
The wall went up in 2019 with 120 plaques. Morello was asked by the township to meet with Jeanette Schelberg and review a veterans wall she created on her own.
“The administration agreed that Washington Township would love to honor our veterans and to create a Veterans Wall of Honor as well,” Morello recalled, noting she met with Bob Abbot, president of the township advisory board at the time, who has since passed away.
“… He taught me how to read a veteran’s discharge paper, called a DD214, which is needed for the application for the wall,” Morello explained.
The first wall ceremony drew 400 people.
“Each year after, normally the first or second week of December, I create an ongoing ceremony to honor all new inductees for that year,” Morello noted. “I have the privilege of meeting each veteran and their family member and creating their plaque.
“It has been my honor and pleasure.”
At the wall ceremony, Morello recalled that her dad served 30 years in the Air Force, so overseeing the Veterans Wall of Honor can at times be emotional for her.
“Washington Township is very blessed to have over 2,000 veterans in our township, (meaning) there’s 1,700 left (to be added to the wall),” she observed at the end of the ceremony.
Eligibility for the Veterans Wall of Honor includes completing active-duty service in the U.S. military an earning an honorable discharge. National Guard members who were deployed overseas in a combat zone are also eligible.
For more information on the wall, contact Morello at lmorello@twp.washington.nj.us or call (856) 589-0520, ext. 2287.
