Memorial To War Dead Announced As Toms River Parade Pays Tribute To Veterans: Photos

TOMS RIVER, NJ ? As Toms River residents paid tribute on Tuesday morning to veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, Mayor Daniel Rodrick announced plans for a monument to those who gave their lives fighting to protect the United States.

Rodrick announced the monument during his remarks at Town Hall following the Veterans Day Parade, which drew a decent crowd along Main and Washington streets in spite of the 38-degree temperature and 22 mph winds.

Members of the local Disabled American Veterans organization were driven along the parade route on a trailer, allowing the crowd to pay tribute to them before they disembarked at Town Hall to watch the parade.

Other veterans organizations were joined by marching bands from the Toms River Regional Schools, JROTC clubs from the district's schools and Toms River fire companies in the parade, which lasted about 45 minutes.

It was followed by the ceremony on the steps of Town Hall, with remarks from the chairman of the Toms River Veterans Commission and three of the student winners in the commission's 2025 Veterans Day Essay Contest reading their essays on what the day means to them.

The bitter chill kept several members of the commission, which organizes the parade, from participating. Also unable to attend was the parade grand marshal, Paul Wnek. Wnek, a former mayor of the township when Toms River was still named Dover Township, is a charter member of the veterans commission.

Rodrick said the monument would be built at Shelter Cove to "not only commemorate those who have made the ultimate sacrifice but will also stand as a powerful reminder of the bravery and dedication of all our service members."

The monument would be engraved with the names of those "who laid down their lives in the defense of our freedoms ? men and women who called Toms River home," he said.

Rodrick said he envisions the monument surrounded by American flags that will be lit up at night and visible from Barnegat Bay. American flags would be erected lining Shelter Cove Park along Bay Avenue, creating "a place where we can connect with the sacrifices made for our very freedom," he said.

Toms River has a monument that pays tribute to veterans at Bey Lea Park on Bay Avenue. The Protectors of Freedom monumentincludes statues honoring men and women who have served in international wars and conflicts from 1917 to the present. There are six, 8-foot-tall bronze sculptures, including a female nurse from the Vietnam War era, and a pathway around the garden includes signs explaining each sculpture and commemorating each of the wars and conflicts, from World War I to the present. It does not list the names of Toms River's war dead.

The statues were created by sculptor Brian Hanlon, a Toms River native whose bronze sculptures grace buildings and monuments across the world.

See more photos from the parade below. All photos by Karen Wall, Patch staff.