Shine For Our Bravest flyer.
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Jim White was filled with emotion when he saw a Facebook photo of Maxton W. Soviak, the 22-year-old Navy corpsman who was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the Aug. 26 suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
White posted a Facebook comment in honor of Soviak and the others for making the ultimate sacrifice in their service to their country.
But he wanted to do more.
White and his wife, Christine, then came up with the idea for a nighttime ceremony in Sea Isle City that will have members of the community join together and beam their lights skyward in remembrance of the late service men and women.
Called “Shine For Our Bravest,” the memorial will take place 9 p.m. Saturday on the Promenade at John F. Kennedy Boulevard. It will intentionally be kept brief and will not be political, White said.
The name, rank and branch of service of each of the 13 who were killed will be read aloud, followed by the solemn chimes from a bell.
Brief remarks will be made by White and Sea Isle Mayor Leonard Desiderio. Pastor Melissa Doyle-Waid of United Methodist Church in Sea Isle will lead the ceremony in prayer.
The memorial will also include two bagpipers who will play “Amazing Grace” and the singing of the national anthem by those in attendance.
Culminating the ceremony will be a light display. A siren will ring out to signal people who are lining the Promenade and the beach to shine their cellphones and flashlights “up to the heavens,” White said.
“This is going to be up and down the whole beach,” he said of the crowds that are expected.
VFW Post 1963 is involved in the planning and organizing of the memorial ceremony. This photo was taken in 2020, while a new front deck was being constructed on the VFW headquarters.
Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said everyone from the public is invited to attend the ceremony.
For those who can’t attend, they are urged to turn on their porch lights, headlights or other lights after the siren is heard, White and Custer said.
“They can do it from their front porch or their front deck,” Custer said.
A bit later the siren will ring again, this time to let people know to turn off their lights. The ceremony will conclude then.
White, who owns a vacation home in Sea Isle, said the memorial will involve “the entire community, the whole town.”
He reached out to Sea Isle’s VFW Post 1963 to help him plan and organize the ceremony.
“The VFW is supporting this 110 percent,” White said.
Mark Lloyd, commander of Post 1963, noted that 2,448 U.S. service men and women were killed in Afghanistan during the 20-year war. He characterized the deaths of the 13 service members as “especially brutal because of the timing and optics of the entire affair.”
The suicide bombing attack on Aug. 26 came as the U.S. military was evacuating Americans and other people from the airport in Kabul following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.
Lloyd said he was particularly touched by the public comments made by Gold Star families whose loved ones were among the 13 service members killed in the attack.
“Their statements all resonated with me. They all said the same thing in their grief. They said that they all died doing what they wanted to do, giving service to their nation,” Lloyd said.
Of the 13 who were killed, 11 were Marines, one was a Navy corpsman and one was a solder. The attack occurred outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The U.S. troops were supporting evacuations from war-torn Afghanistan to the United States.
“They died in a crush of humanity rushing to get a piece of the freedom we enjoy every day,” Lloyd said.
Shine For Our Bravest flyer.
