Cedar Grove Student Named 2nd Lieutenant In NJ Civil Air Patrol

Cadet 2nd Lt. Michael Matarazzo - a senior at Cedar Grove High School and a Civil Air Patrol member since 2013 – recently pinned on his current rank after earning the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award.

Matarazzo is a member of the New Jersey Wing’s Curtiss Wright Composite Squadron.

Matarazzo has also earned his Wright Brothers award and attended encampment through the Civil Air Patrol, a release stated.

According to a release, the Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 57,000 members nationwide.

CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 90 lives in fiscal year 2008, a release stated.