Dennis William II Zilinski, age 23, from Freehold, New Jersey, Monmouth county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company B, 1St Battalion, 187Th Infantry (Tf Tikrit), Fort Campbell, Ky
Date of death: Saturday, November 19, 2005
Death details: Killed when a bomb detonated near his Humvee near Bayji, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Donald Cioffi, age 30, of Freehold, New Jersey
Service era: Gulf War
Date of death: Friday, March 15, 1996
Death details: Killed when S-3 “Viking” of Sea Control Squadron (VS) 24 crashed at sea near Puerto Rico while on routine training mission
Source: U.S. Navy, Journal Times
Walter Francis Wrobleski from Freehold, New Jersey.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: May 21, 1967
Death details: On May 21, 1967, a UH-1C Iroquois (tail number 65-9480, call sign “Wolf Pack 480”) with a crew of four participated in an extraction mission in the Ashau Valley, South Vietnam. The flight of seven helicopters sighted the patrol in the vicinity of grid coordinates YC 458 874, Thua Thien Province; however, as this UH-1C began laying down covering fire for the extraction, it was hit by a burst of heavy machine gun fire. The engine immediately failed, and the helicopter was then hit by another burst of fire that sent it out of control. It crashed, rolled down a small ravine and caught fire. The crew flashed a red signal indicating they had survived the crash, and despite heavy enemy fire, another helicopter managed to rescue one of the crewmen. The following day a second signal alerted rescuers to the position of a second crew man, whom they extracted. U.S. Army Rangers found the third crew man alive the next day and he was able to walk out of the area with them. Despite intensive aerial and ground searches, the fourth crew member from this helicopter was never found.
Warrant Officer 1 Walter Francis Wrobleski, who joined the U.S. Army from New Jersey, served with the 281th Aviation Company, 10th Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group. He was the pilot of the downed helicopter, and he was not recovered by search forces. He remains unaccounted for. After the incident, the Army promoted Warrant Office 1 Wrobleski to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3. Today, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Wrobleski is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
John A. Jr. Shebanie, age 22, from Freehold, New Jersey, Monmouth county.
Parents: John A. Shebanie
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Rutgers University, Ardena School graduate, Freehold Regional High (1957
Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 1961
Death details: Among 77 killed in Richmond, Virginia when the engines aboard their plane failed and it crashed into marshland. The crew and passengers died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The flight was enroute from Baltimore to Columbia, South Carolina.
Source: Associated Press (1961), Asbury Park Press (1961)
Theodore Askew, age 19, from Monmouth County Freehold, New Jersey .
Parents: Edward Askew
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, August 2, 1944
Death details: Killed when the USS Fiske was torpedoed in the Atlantic
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, England
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, uboat.net, The Times (1944), Freehold Transcript (1944)