By Grace Cangemi

Petty Officer 3rd Class Denis Miranda

If you watched network television today, you might think that the biggest story out of the Seaside Heights/Toms River area is about a guy who calls himself “The Situation” and whether or not he’s continuing to dance with the stars.  Not even close.

Here’s the name we should be hearing about today – DENIS MIRANDA.  Petty Officer Third Class, son, brother, fiance’, friend, Navy Seal, not quite 25 year old Denis Miranda has been brought back to his hometown after a little more than a week in Afghanistan.  He will be laid to rest tomorrow.

Petty Officer Miranda was a graduate of Toms River East High School serving us overseas when he was killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan on September 21st along with 8 other young men.  As friends, family, and fellow servicemen and women arrived at the Anderson and Campbell Funeral Home on Main Street in Toms River, small flags lined the sidewalks and a half a dozen men from the Patriot Guard stood outside holding American flags.  In declining to comment, one  gentleman simply said, “There’s not much to say.  We’re here because he was there.”

Later, I spoke to Patriot Guard Senior Ride Captain Rich Baumann of Bayville.  He told me that members of the Patriot Guard are motorcyclists from all over the country.  Some are veterans, some have family who are serving, but all have one thing in common – “a desire to show honor and respect for our fallen troops.”  The Patriot Guard escorted Petty Officer Miranda from McGuire Air Force Base to the funeral home and has been keeping an honor guard there during visitation.  Tomorrow, they will join several other groups in escorting the procession from the funeral home to the cemetery.  Baumann told me that the Patriot Guard will also have flag lines at both locations. 

“It is,” he said, “our honor that we can do this.”

While we hear a great deal from people who say that they support our troops, I spent a good part of the day with people who are actively involved in doing just that for Denis Miranda and his family. 

American Legion Post 129 (alpost129.com) is preparing for a long day tomorrow.  Wendy Sharkey, founder of the post’s Legion Riders, told me that the post was expecting up to 1000 people.  The post will be hosting the repast for the family following the interment and will also be a staging area for many of the supporting organizations.  She expects them to include Warrior Watch Riders (warriorswatch.org) and Rolling Thunder (rollingthunder1.com).  All of these organizations have been working together to provide escorts, honor guards, and support. 

American Legion Post 129 is providing the food and drink for the repast.  Dennis Grella, one of the Sons of the American Legion, was in the kitchen where a crew was busy preparing for tomorrow. 

“We give back to our country,” Grella told me, echoing the sentiments of nearly everyone I spoke to.  “When it comes to troops, everything stops.  Everything stops for the troops.”

And that’s the way it should be.

Between now and January, approximately a thousand men and women will be deployed from New Jersey.  For them and their families, we are still very much at war.  And for the organizations and volunteers who serve them, the challenge is ongoing.  At deployments, at returns, at family information briefings, and, maybe most importantly, at funerals, these people show up time after time – in rain, in snow, at all hours of the day and night to honor and serve our men and women in uniform.  These organizations need all the support they can get.

As Ronnie Micciula of the American Recreational Military Service (ARMS – supportarms.org) says, “There’s a lot of troops going and it’s going to be tough to provide for it, but we’ll find a way.  How can we let our soldiers and their families down? We owe it to them.  They work so hard to serve us.  It’s an honor to serve them.”

Tomorrow morning, as  dedicated men and women from these organizations help lay to rest an American hero, the Miranda family will bury their oldest son.  Perhaps we should keep in mind the words of Thomas Paine:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

And we should all take a moment to thank and remember Petty Officer 3^rd Class Denis Miranda.