Fallen soldiers memorialized with park rededication
HAMILTON » Rain or shine, Hamilton Township will remember its fallen soldiers.
Such was the case on Saturday, when Mayor Kelly Yaede hosted a rededication ceremony honoring four Hamilton natives who died while serving overseas in the war on terror.
Elected officials, local residents and relatives of the late U.S. Army servicemen Eric Snell, Eric Wilkus, Keith Buzinski and Omar Vazquez all attended the patriotic event at Snell and Wilkus Memorial Park despite the off-andon downpour.
“When the rain started to come down, none of you left,” Yaede said to the several dozen people in attendance. Referring to the fallen soldiers as “heroes,” Yaede said Snell, Wilkus, Buzinski and Vazquez “were willing to place themselves in harm’s way for the freedom of all of us.”
“Getting rained on is absolutely nothing compared to what they had to endure, what they had to see,” Yaede said.
The 31-acre recreational space now known as Snell and Wilkus Memorial Park opened 50 years ago under the name Shady Brook Park.
Located off Reeves Avenue and Arena Drive, the public land was previously dedicated as Sgt. Eric Snell and Pfc. Eric Wilkus Memorial Park on Dec. 24, 2007, “in honor of two American heroes, Hamiltonians who volunteered for service in the armed forces of the United States and saw service in Iraq and passed away in the service of their nation while separated from those they loved most.”
The Yaede administration on Saturday rededicated the park with four permanent additions — new benches bearing the names of the fallen soldiers — to further memorialize Snell and Wilkus while also commemorating the ultimate sacrifices paid by U.S. Army Sgt. Keith Buzinski and U.S. Army 1st Lt. Omar Vazquez.
Martin “Marty” Flynn, who served as Snell’s former varsity baseball head coach at Hamilton High School West and now serves as Hamilton Township’s technology and economic development director, told the grieving loved ones that the park rededication “is something to keep the memory of your children alive for as long as we can.”
“I’d like to thank Hamilton for this rededication,” said Arthur “Art” Snell, father of the late solider. “Eric, he loved this park, and he loved the township.”
Tom Buzinski, father of the fallen Army sergeant, said the rededication ceremony was a “great honor,” adding, “We must have tremendous gratitude to all our service members, to all our veterans.”
“My son was a hero,” said Maria Vazquez, mother of the late Army lieutenant. “He was well-educated; he had a master’s degree, but he wanted to serve.”
Hometown heroes
• U.S. Army Sgt. Eric Snell, 35, died on June 18, 2007, succumbing from small-arms fire in Baghdad, Iraq. He joined the military in 2005 at age 32, following in the footsteps of his parents. In his youth, Snell was a sports superstar considered one of the greatest athletes to ever play at Hamilton High School West. He attended Old Dominion University on a baseball scholarship rather than join the farm system of the Cleveland Indians, who had drafted him. Snell also had a big-time modeling career and appeared in high-profile music videos of artists such as the late hip-hop lyricist Notorious B.I.G.
• Army Private First Class Eric Wilkus, 20, a military police officer, died on Christmas Day 2006 from injuries he suffered days earlier in Baghdad, Iraq. Born in Trenton and raised in Hamilton, Wilkus graduated from Hamilton High School West in 2004 and was a member of the Hornet Band. He also served as a firefighter with the White Horse Volunteer Fire Co., according to his obituary.
• U.S. Army Sgt. Keith Buzinski, 26, who was born in Trenton and raised in Hamilton, was killed April 7, 2011, during an enemy attack in eastern Afghanistan’s Logar Province. Buzinski was posthumously promoted from specialist to sergeant. As a youth, Buzinski attended Hamilton public schools, participated in Sunnybrae Little League and played Hamilton recreation soccer and football, his parents previously told The Trentonian.
• U.S. Army 1st Lt. Omar Vazquez, 25, died in Numaniyah, Iraq, on April 22, 2011, when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Vazquez was a 2003 graduate of local Catholic institution McCorristin High School, which is now known as Trenton Catholic Academy. He graduated from Rider University in 2007 with a history degree and earned his master’s degree in liberal studies from Rutgers-Camden University in 2009.
Event attendees
Among the people in attendance for Saturday morning’s park rededication was Hamilton’s new Superintendent of Schools Dr. Scott Rocco and school board member Christopher Scales.
The event also attracted Democratic and Republican elected officials such as New Jersey State Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Mercer/Middlesex) and Republican Hamilton Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer, who is challenging Greenstein for her seat in the Nov. 7 election. Other Republican incumbents on Hamilton Council attended the event, and 2017 Democratic candidates for Hamilton Council also did not let the rain stop them from appearing.
Yaede, a Republican, has implemented significant upgrades to Snell and Wilkus Memorial Park since assuming office in November 2012 as Hamilton’s first female mayor. The park in recent years received a new tennis surface and new fencing around the tennis courts. Picnic tables and a flagpole have also been added to the landscape, which has been beautified.