Garden honors fallen soldier and friend
Kosovo vet was
one of the squad
members

FARRAH MAFFAI Family members view a monument and memorial to Army Spc. James Sakofsky, a junior member of the North Brunswick Rescue Squad who died while serving in Kosovo. The monument was erected by local Brownie Troop 2043.

North Brunswick Brownie Troop 2043 hopes their garden will bloom to help fill the void in their friends’ lives.

A little more than two years after beloved resident and junior Rescue Squad member Spc. James T. Sakofsky died while on a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, North Brunswick Brownie Troop 2043 and the members of the North Brunswick First Aid and Rescue Squad dedicated a memorial garden in his honor.

"The Brownies chose to erect this garden as the Rescue Squad’s daily reflection of their permanent memory of James," Linda Warhaftig, rescue squad member and Brownie Troop 2043 leader said. "He was my friend and my children knew him."

Warhaftig presided over the dedication ceremony held in the front of the Ridgewood Avenue Rescue Squad on Aug. 23.

"It is important, especially now more than ever, to support all of our soldiers so that they are never left behind or forgotten," Warhaftig said.

The garden, which surrounds a large monument dedicated to the memory of all of the squad’s deceased members, is comprised of brightly colored perennials.

Ron and Clinton Monuments of North Brunswick made a marker bearing Sakofsky’s name for the garden.

Sakofsky, 24, of the 551st Military Police Company, was killed June 1, 2001 when his vehicle crashed on patrol while assigned to the Kosovo Stabilization Force. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Sakofsky, a member of the North Brunswick Rescue Squad for over six years, served as an emergency medical technician.

"There will forever be a void in the hearts of the Rescue Squad members who had the pleasure of knowing James," Warhaftig said.

In honor of Sakofsky, the Township Council dedicated the intersection of Cranbury Cross Road and Linwood Place, where Sakofsky lived, as James T. Sakofsky Way earlier this year.

Warhaftig said the Brownie Troop, comprised of Kelsey Aloia, Morgan Comunale, Lauren Illes, Ashleyann Kaltschmid, Brianna Mussman, Dorie and Sammy Porwitch, Deanna Stoika and Lauren Wistreich, came up with the idea for the memorial garden more than two years ago.

"When Sept. 11 happened, every­thing was postponed," Warhaftig said. "They really worked hard to finish it in the last three months."

The troop received support from vari­ous individuals and local businesses, in­cluding Pinizzotto Construction Supply, the Livingston Park Nursery, Ron and Clinton Monuments, and the North Brunswick Rescue, Police and Fire de­partments among many others.