JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP — The Junior Woman’s Club of Jefferson Township will honor local fallen hero Second Lieutenant John Thomas Wroblewski at its 5K and 2-Mile Walk on Sunday, October 4. The annual run has been a staple in the township for 28 years.
The 5K starts at 9:00 a.m. at the Jefferson Township Municipal Building, 1033 Weldon Road, Lake Hopatcong.
Wroblewski, a 1998 graduate of Jefferson Township High School and a Marine, was killed in battle in Ramadi, Iraq, in April 2004.
For its first five years, the 5K was known as the Falcon Run, but it was renamed in Wroblewski’s honor following his death. The Junior Woman’s Club sends 80 percent of the event’s proceeds to local charities and 20 percent to scholarships.
Wroblewski grew up in Jefferson and found success in both athletics and academics. His achievements continued after high school when he went on to attend Rutgers University.
“He really excelled in athletics and academics throughout his life. Baseball, football. In high school, the same thing with baseball and football,” said his father, John Walter Wroblewski. “At Rutgers too, he excelled in academics, and he was quite involved with the Special Olympics there.”
His father also remembers the many other qualities people loved about his son.
“He was a good-looking guy, very intelligent, and had a great sense of humor,” John Walter Wroblewski said. “He would always brighten up a room.”
Wroblewski began his senior year of college just weeks before the September 11 attacks. Although he never expressed it to his parents at the time, the act of terrorism profoundly shaped his decision to serve the United States.
He graduated from Rutgers in May 2002 and shortly after informed his parents that he had joined the Marines.
“We didn’t know anything of his plans,” his father said.
John Walter Wroblewski admits that he and his wife did not initially love the idea of their son joining the military and tried to discuss other options with the Rutgers graduate. After that conversation, they accepted his decision with a great deal of pride.
“I said, ‘John, you’ve got so much to offer. You could work anywhere you want,'” his father said. “I remember he said, ‘Dad, I just want to serve my country.’
“It was amazing because, at that point in time, all through life, a son looks up to their dad. When he presented it to me like that, that’s when our roles kind of switched. I looked up to him.”
Wroblewski nearly took the aviation route as a Marine, but a general who met him had different ideas.
“The general said he really should be leading men,” John Walter Wroblewski said. “He saw that John’s leadership abilities would serve the Marines better if he was an officer where he would have men that he would be responsible for.”
Wroblewski qualified for Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He graduated at the top of his class, was appointed to the General’s Honor Roll and was meritoriously augmented. He was also a Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor.
After graduating from the Infantry Officer Course in Quantico, Virginia, Wroblewski was placed in command of the Second Platoon, Echo Company, Second Battalion.
He led 40 Marines to Ramadi, Iraq, in February 2004. He tried to assure his parents that he would be safe, but his father knew the dangers were real.
“He had said to us, ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere you have to worry,'” John Walter Wroblewski said. “I looked it up, and it said it was one of the deadliest places on earth.”
Wroblewski was killed in battle on April 6, 2004, 10 days shy of his 26th birthday. Ten other Marines lost their lives that day.
He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. His parents believe their son was destined to serve in the military.
“When we look back at it, even as a kid, he was the oldest of four boys. They’d be out in the backyard as kids playing war. We remember him yelling ‘enemy in the wire,'” John Walter Wroblewski said. “Looking back, we think he must have always been thinking about that.”
What they know for sure is that their son felt he made the right decision when he enlisted.
“He loved it. He loved the training. He loved being a Marine,” his father said.
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