Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Thorne Middle School To Honor Local Veterans For Memorial Day

For Immediate Release:
5/19/15


To honor local veterans for Memorial Day, the staff and children of Thorne Middle School will gather at 9:00 AM on Thursday, May 21 for a traditional Memorial Day ceremony.

Following the ceremony, there will be a special performance tribute to the history of the USO inside and a screening of a touching video about Edith Thorne Lentz Nowels, who died in April.

Nowels was the sister of local World War II hero Corporal Horace “Buddy” Thorne, for whom the school was named in 1962.

“Edith was instrumental in the school receiving the Battle of the Bulge monument from Fort Monmouth. She was a driving force behind everything that Thorne has done to honor Veterans past and present,” says Thorne Middle School Principal Tom Olausen.

Before she died, Nowels was busy working on a new project, researching to find all Thorne alumni who lost their lives while serving in the military so a second monument to honor them could be placed at the school.

One such hero was Army First Lieutenant Dennis Zilinski, 101st Airborne Division – Thorne Class of 1996. Lieutenant Zilinski was killed during combat operations in Iraq in 2005.

The Zilinski family will be on hand this Thursday when the school announces the plan for a future monument.

Lt. Zilinski’s family is thankful to Nowels. “I know Dennis would be honored to be remembered alongside Corporal Thorne and other local heroes,” said his mother Marion Zilinski. “Dennis loved his country, and he loved his home town. We are very grateful to the Edith and the school for keeping his memory alive and making the sacrifice of our local veterans relevant for generations to come.”

Lt. Dennis Zilinski II grew up in Middletown, NJ.

All veterans are welcome to attend the event.

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