Fox's Pete Hegseth To Speak At Middletown Veterans Flag Service

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown is known as a town that takes its commitment to U.S. veterans seriously.

And next Saturday, as it has done for the past 12 years, Middletown's Westminster Presbyterian Church will hold a Field of Flags memorial service to honor servicemen and women killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fox News host Pete Hegseth will be the keynote speaker.

The Nov. 6 flag service at the church is open to all. It begins at noon at the church on Tindall Road. They will be using Middletown High School North's parking lot, so there will be plenty of places for people to park.

Hegseth is a U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns; he has the ranking of Major. He is also the two-time recipient of the Bronze Star. He is the co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend," and lives locally here in Monmouth County.

Members of the church and the Middletown community will place 7,053 flags on the lawn; each flag will represent a U.S. service member who was killed in the wars in in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Field of Flags will remain standing until November 13. November 11 is Veterans Day.

In addition to Hegseth, remarks will also be offered by Captain Edward L. Callahan, commander at nearby Naval Weapons Station Earle. Greetings from Middletown Mayor Tony Perry and NJ-13 Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger will be offered.

Music will be provided by local 40-member chorus, the Brookdale Concordia Chorale and bagpipe music by piper Mike Hannigan.

Presentations will be made from the Naval Weapons Station Earle and the Middletown Boy and Girl Scouts troops.

172 men and women from New Jersey died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their names, branch of service and date of death will be displayed on a large board bordering the Field of Flags.

One of the names included this year, as always, will be Middletown native Dennis Zilinski, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005.

Zilinski died at only 23 years old, serving with the U.S. Army. He grew up in Middletown and was a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft. In April 2020, Middletown threw a welcome-home parade for his brother, U.S. Army Major Matthew Zilinski, when he returned from an 11-month deployment in Kosovo. Read that story: Middletown Welcomes Home U.S. Veteran, Social-Distancing Style

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