Fallen Kinnelon Soldier Honored With Bronze Plaque

will honor U.S. Army Specialist Jonathan Batista, by placing a bronze plaque outside the borough’s flagpole memorial.

Mayor Robert Collins announced the plan for the plaque, which will be dedicated Memorial Day 2013, during the borough council meeting Thursday. Collins also ordered that all flags in the community be flown at half mast until Aug. 8 in honor of Batista, 22.

According to the Department of Defense, Batista, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, was fatally wounded by enemy small arms fire while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

He joined the Army as an infantryman on March 16, 2010, and was serving his first deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed. When Batista died, he was with the A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.

Batista is a recipient of the Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal and several other honors.

On Thursday, Collins read a proclamation from the borough calling for Batista to be honored for “the ultimate sacrifice to his country and fellow soldiers.” The proclamation was read aloud by Collins and presented to members of Cub Scout pack 277, of which Batista’s younger brother, Andrew, is a member.

at and hundreds of relatives and friends attended. , Batista is remembered as having a "charismatic personality."

“The understanding and caring which Jonathan Batista gave to others will stand as a monument to a true fine person,” Collins read at Thursday's meeting.

Councilman Ronald Mondello relayed a story that his son, Nicholas, who attended the Kinnelon summer recreation program with Andrew Batista, had told him depicting the younger Batista’s admiration for his older brother, who served his platoon as a mine detector operator.

“It was not long ago that Andrew, with very bright eyes and a big smile on his face, explained to Nicholas, and his camp counselor, how his older brother was in the army,” Mondello said. “Not only was he in the army, but he was the guy who found all the mines so that everybody else would be safe.”

During the council meeting, Collins called out a number of high-ranking government officials, including Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who attended the wake and and Monday’s funeral service.

Collins said Guadagno spent a long time with the family “acknowledging not just the fact that he was a resident of Kinnelon but a hero for the state, as well.”

The council also thanked John Finkle and Keith Pavlak for their roles in coordinating the events held during the previous week in Batista’s honor. Collins read aloud a letter from the M. John Scanlan Funeral Home, which handled Batista's arrangements, thanking Finkle and the Kinnelon police force for their “effort and constant presence.”

“It goes without saying that this is a difficult time for everyone,” the letter read. “The family was devastated, the community was shaken and even seasoned war veterans were reduced to tears.”

None of Batista’s family members were present at the council meeting. Collins reminded the community that anybody who is interested can make a contribution, at the family’s request, to the Wounded Warrior Project.