By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN – The passage of time has not dimmed the commitment of the men, women, boys and girls who converge on Manalapan each September to participate in the Walk With Joe.
The 15th annual edition of the 5-kilometer walk which honors Patrick “Joe” Driscoll, Christopher Gray and Tom McCann, area residents who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Route 33, Manalapan.
People of all ages are invited to participate in the Walk With Joe. All proceeds from the event are donated to local charities, scholarships, and other nonprofit organizations.
Gray, an employee of Cantor Fitzgerald, was born and raised in Manalapan and was a quarterback at West Virginia University, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
McCann, a 23-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York, was an initial first responder on Sept. 11.
Gray and McCann both lost their lives at the World Trade Center when two hijacked airplanes brought down the twin towers.
Driscoll was a Manalapan resident for more than 35 years and was an active member of the community. He was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in Shanksville, Pa., after passengers fought the terrorists who had taken control of the plane from the crew. No one survived the plane’s crash into the Pennsylvania countryside.
Authorities later said the hijackers’ plan may have been to crash Flight 93 into the White House or the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
At the Pentagon in Arlington County, Va., a hijacked airplane was flown into the building that is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. Nearly 200 people died at that location.
Year after year — annually since 2002 — family members and friends of Driscoll, Gray and McCann, joined by residents of Manalapan and other municipalities, pay tribute to the fallen heroes.
Since its inception, the Walk With Joe has raised more than $350,000, which has all been distributed to area charities, according to the event’s organizers.
There have been thousands of walkers over the past 14 years who have enjoyed the recognition ceremonies, the walk itself and the beautiful Monmouth Battlefield State Park setting, according to the Walk With Joe organizers.
For more information about the Walk With Joe, visit walk-with-joe
