Event honored local graduate Michael Scusa who was lost in Afghanistan
LOWER TOWNSHIP – Runners stretched and shifted nervously from foot to foot, as local politicians, boy scouts, a smattering of veterans and groups of families milled about early Saturday morning along Route 9.
The New Jersey Run for the Fallen was already underway, having kicked off at 6:30 a.m. in the southernmost reaches of Lower Township. The group at Hero Marker 9 was readying itself for the arrival of the first team of runners and wheelchair athletes.
“I am proud to be here,” said Tech. Sgt. John Kulmac, U.S. Air Force, as he scanned the road for the two airmen that would run the next seven miles with him. “Our team is ready to go.”
Council members, including Mayor Michael Beck, Deputy Mayor Kevin Lare and Councilmen Thomas Conrad and Glenn Douglass, mixed with those gathered and introduced themselves to Cindy Woodard, who lost her son Michael Scusa to the war in Afghanistan.
Her son, then 22, died on Oct. 3, 2009, in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, when his outpost was attacked by enemy forces. He was on active duty in the U.S. Army.
“I miss him everyday,” said Woodard, accompanied by two of her surviving children and five of her grandchildren. “The grief process, I guess, is different for everyone. It is so nice to see him remembered this way.”
Scusa was a 2005 graduate of Lower Cape May Regional High School. He grew up in Nebraska, moved to Cape May County in 1999, and enlisted in the Army out of high school. He had been married about two years at the time of his death and had a one-year-old son, Connor.
Woodard said she hadn’t seen her grandson Connor for nearly a year.
“Michael’s wife is from Colorado. That was where he was stationed and she stayed out there with her family. I’d like to get out there more, but it is very expensive,” said Woodard, as she pointed to pictures of her grandson in a photo album she carried.
“He has his father’s eyes. I can see Michael in every picture of him,” she said.
Woodard wore Michael’s dog tags around her neck, and a button bearing a picture of him. The resemblance, in pictures, between father and son was striking.
Beck spent time speaking with Woodard just before the arrival of the runners at the marker, as Conrad – also a Boy Scout Leader – mustered the half dozen 12- to 17-year-old scouts he accompanied for the brief ceremony.
“The council supports this event. It is important that we take the time to remember these men and women who served,” said Conrad.
The arrival of the first team of runners was marked by a brief ceremony, thanking Woodard for her son’s service.
Council members and township authorities have urged local residents to turn out for the event, a tribute to the servicemen and women from the Garden State that have been killed in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The township hosted a two-mile run/walk from Cape May Lighthouse to Sunset Beach on Friday, Sept. 23, as well as a flag-lowering ceremony at Sunset Beach. Friday’s events ended with a dinner at the Town Bank Fire Hall for Gold and Blue Star families in attendance; Hope for the Warriors; and the core run teams, along with their support and escort personnel.
A "Gold Star Mother" has lost a son or daughter serving in the armed forces. “Blue Star” families have a family member serving on active duty, in harm’s way.
Local fundraising efforts, led by township executive administrative assistant Eileen Kreis, focused on providing no-cost accommodations for families that traveled to the area for the event. Kreis is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Run for the Fallen event.
The New Jersey Run for the Fallen, part of a national network of events, is a 150-mile run that started at Cape May Point on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 6:30 a.m. and finished the next day at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel.
Each mile of the local run is dedicated to a New Jersey soldier, sailor, airman or Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The designated runners, a team of active duty and reserve airmen and soldiers from McGuire Air Force Base and Fort Dix, marked each mile with an American flag and sign card. The cards bear a reflection of remembrance for each service member and are presented to family members and friends at each marker.
This year's run team was joined by Team Hope for the Warriors, a group that unites wounded veterans with athletes to compete in endurance events worldwide. Team Hope athletes took part in the run on foot and in adaptive wheelchairs.
The New Jersey war dead being remembered by the runners range in age from 18 to 52.
The Run for the Fallen organization was founded in 2008. Last year, more than 5,000 runners in 35 states and four countries ran a combined total of 31,000 miles.
The organization's website is www.njrunforthefallen.org.
The runners were escorted by the New Jersey State Police and the New Jersey Warriors Watch Riders.
According to the organization, donations go to event expenses and any money raised above the expenses is donated to the Gold Star Mother's monument being built in Washington D.C.
More than 6,026 men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom since 2001.
photo by Ellen Pfeifle
