Photo By Lt. Col. Brett Walker | SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – About 70 soldiers and supporting civilians prepare to...... read more read more
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – About 70 soldiers and supporting civilians serving in Puerto Rico for storm response ran a memorial 5K in honor of a fallen New Jersey soldier. Hundreds of other people across the United States and around the world also participated.
The run is a remembrance event for U.S. Army 1st Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski II, a West Point graduate and infantry officer killed in action in Iraq on November 19, 2005. Following Zilinski’s death, his family founded a New Jersey-based charity dedicated to helping service members and veterans. His brother, U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Zilinski, is helping from afar this year because he is deployed to Puerto Rico with the 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the New Jersey Army National Guard.
This was the 12th consecutive year the Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski II Memorial Fund organized the 5K Run With Dennis event. Originally exclusive to New Jersey, it went global in 2012. Last year runners participated in 26 states and six countries. Three hundred soldiers ran in Afghanistan alone.
It is too early to know total participants for 2017, but Matthew said involvement in this event grows every year.
“I was heartened by the participation from my soldiers and we look forward to continuing this run as an annual event,” said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Don Veitch, 65th Press Camp Headquarters, which is also deployed to Puerto Rico. The 65th Press Camp Headquarters supplied ten runners today. “I am a big fan of events like this because not only does it build unit cohesion, but also it creates a unique opportunity to remember a fallen soldier.”
Both Zilinski brothers are more decorated as swimmers than runners, but the memorial run is calculated to appeal to more participants in more locations around the world than would a swim challenge.
“We thought the memorial run would bring more people,” said Matthew. “With running or walking, anyone can do it. They do it for themselves, but also for the memory.”
The Zilinski boys grew up in Middletown, New Jersey. Matthew still lives in New Jersey, where he serves in the National Guard as a military police officer and on the Howell Township Police Department. New Jersey is also the site of the charity’s flagship run in which about 600 people participated last year.
Dennis graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2004. He branched infantry, completed Ranger School and then joined the 101st Airborne Division. Almost immediately he deployed to Iraq as a platoon leader in charge of about 30 soldiers.
Dennis was the first member of the West Point Class of 2004 to die in combat. His class would go onto become the most casualty afflicted class at West Point since the Vietnam era. The story is commemorated in the 2015 book The Strong Gray Line.
The annual Run With Dennis is only one of the many events organized by the Dennis W. Zilinski II Memorial Fund, a 501(c)(3) charity managed by the Zilinski family. There are also dinner galas and donation drives. According to Matthew, the charity has raised more than a half million dollars in the last dozen years.
“Our dinner dance in September [of 2017] resulted in $90,000 in donations, plus ten individuals donated an extra $15,000 each to train therapy dogs for veterans,” said Matthew.
Five years ago the charity chose to work with K9s For Warriors in St. Augustine, Florida. It is an organization that trains therapy dogs for veterans afflicted with mental health conditions.
“It costs about $15,000 to train each dog,” said Matthew.
The charity also provides scholarships to students who demonstrate strong potential as leaders and servants to the nation.
“When Dennis decided to go to West Point it kind of shocked us,” said Matthew. “He wanted to be a leader and to serve his country.”
By the time the U.S. troops deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dennis was a junior at West Point and Matthew was a freshman at Norwich, another military academy in the Northeast. Their mother expressed trepidation, but Matthew remembers his brother explaining “you don’t quit West Point, especially when your country needs you.”
Just before the run began here today, Matthew stepped in front of the crowd of runners.
“Thank you for running today in memory of my brother, Lieutenant Dennis Zilinski II,” said Matthew. “This year we have people running all around the world. I can tell you that all of the money raised goes to charity. There are no salaries. My mom manages it fulltime.”
More information about the Dennis W. Zilinski II Memorial Fund is available at www.RunWithDennis.org.
Photos of the run in Puerto Rico are available at www.PuertoRicoResponse.com.
Story by Maj. Brett Walker, Executive Officer, 65th Press Camp Headquarters. The 65th PCH is deployed to Puerto Rico in support of the Puerto Rican government and in partnership with FEMA. Walker is, himself, a member of the United States Military Academy Class of 2004 where he was in the same company as Dennis Zilinski.
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2017 16:07 |
| Story ID: | 255025 |
| Location: | PR |
| Web Views: | 187 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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