Toms River Breaks Ground For 'Protectors of Freedom' Monument

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A new memorial to the men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces will soon greet the soccer families, tennis players and others who frequent Bey Lea Park in Toms River.

As the nation marked Veterans Day on Friday, Toms River officials and veterans groups broke ground at the park for the new memorial, named “Protectors of Freedom: 100 Years in the World Stage.”

The monument, a tribute that symbolizes the valor and sacrifice each man and woman made throughout the international wars and conflicts from 1917 to the present, will be sculpted by Toms River native Brian Hanlon, a world-renowned artist. The monument is being funded by the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation.

The monument will reflect foreign conflicts through six, 8-foot-tall bronze sculptures, including a female nurse from the Vietnam War era.

Hanlon, the sculptor of a number of statues of local prominence, including the Angel in Anguish monument to Brick Township's Sept. 11 victims at Windward Beach Park and the sculpture at the corner of Route 37 and Route 166 in Toms River welcoming travelers to the Jersey Shore.

Hanlon has created more than 400 public and private pieces, including a series of sports statues that were displayed around downtown Toms River last summer. He is the official sculptor of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and has recently completed statues of Miss America on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City as well as Hall of Fame basketball coaches John Cheney and Harry Litwack from Temple University.

“It’s extremely rewarding to be able to honor and commend bravery and sacrifice through art with each sculpture in my hometown," Hanlon said. "This tribute and memorial represents such tremendous stories of each generation of war in such simplicity.”

“What a wonderful way for Toms River to show its appreciation to all of the men and women who have served our country," Toms River Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher said.

"It is a great honor and privilege for our foundation to be able to underwrite this wonderful and deserving tribute to the millions of men and women who have served in our Armed Forces over the past century and have helped keep our world safe and prosperous,” said Jay Grunin, co-founder and co-chairman of the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation.

Officials expect the monument will be unveiled in June 2017.

Local filmmaker Sandra Levine produced a video of the ceremony. Watch it below:

Officials lift the first shovels of dirt for the new monument at Bey Lea Park in Toms River. Photo by Stacy Proebstle, Toms River Township