Holmdel Teen Lays Wreaths For U.S. Soldier Killed In Iraq

HOLMDEL, NJ — This December, Nicholas Codispoti, a 15-year-old teen from Holmdel and CBA freshman, led the effort to pay tribute to Lt. Dennis Zilinksi, II, a soldier and young man from Middletown who was killed in action in the Iraq war in 2005.

Codispoti raised enough funds to sponsor more than 1,400 wreaths in Dennis' honor. He was 23 years old when he was killed.

The effort was part of his community service project for his scholarship through the memorial fund. Nicholas took the reins from his sister, Jordan Codispoti, a Trinity Hall High School graduate who is now in college, who led the sponsorship drive for wreaths for several years.

"I'm proud that while continuing what my sister started, I am able to expand her mission of covering all the graves at West Point Cemetery by bringing it to CBA. I've enjoyed going each year to lay the wreaths at West Point, and I see how important it is to remember our fallen soldiers," said Nicholas Codispoti.

Zilinski's mother, Marion, who still lives in Middletown with her husband Dennis, said she is very grateful.

"Our sincere appreciation goes to Nicholas for honoring our son Dennis' memory and all those who are laid to rest at West Point Cemetery," said Marion Zilinski, co-founded of the Zilinski Memorial Fund she started after her son's death. "It is critical for all Americans to remember and honor the fallen. We must never forget that freedom is not free, and many of our servicemen and servicewomen have paid the ultimate sacrifice."

A bus full of volunteers from the Middletown area went to West Point cemetery to lay wreaths at the gravestones for Christmas in honor of Lt. Dennis Zilinksi, II.

Zilinski grew up in Middletown, attended Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft and then graduated from West Point. He is buried at the U.S. Military Academy West Point Cemetery, located at the military academy in West Point, New York.

Every Christmas in the years since his death, CBA students raise money to lay more than 1,400 wreaths at gravestones in West Point cemetery in Zilinski's honor. Only members of the U.S. armed forces can be buried at West Point, including men and women who have been killed in action serving their country. More than 7,000 American soldiers are buried there.

After the coronavirus pandemic halted last year's trip, the Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski, II Memorial Fund once again took a bus full of volunteers from the Middletown area and Jersey Shore to lay wreaths on the graves.

This Christmas, thanks to a $10,000 donation from the Zilinski Memorial Fund, more of the 7,050 graves at West Point Cemetery were covered with Christmas wreaths. As each wreath was placed on a grave, volunteers said the name of each veteran aloud.

Zilinski was killed in action in Iraq by a roadside bomb in 2005.

He swam on the varsity swim team for CBA and was then nominated to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 2004.

After graduation from Ranger School, he deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division on September 17, 2005.

On November 19, 2005, only two months into his deployment, Zilinski was killed by a roadside bomb that went off near Bayji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

Reporting by Carly Baldwin