Commission Shop for the Needs of the Crew

A special blend of coffee, a private label from FirePower for Freedom in both individual pods and pound packages, is now available at the Commission Shop for SSN796 New Jersey, the submarine now nearing completion and scheduled to be commissioned at NWS Earle in Leonardo in September.

The Commissioning committee, established five years ago to serve as a liaison between the ship and the state or which it is named, has a shop full of New Jersey submarine commemoratives which help raise the funds necessary for numerous activities for the ship’s crew, be they in need of gifts, habitability upgrades, NWR support or scholarships.

With the addition of coffee to the variety of caps, tee shirts, cups, decal, keychains and other gifts, the Commission is now also contributing to Bridging the Cap for Veterans, Inc., a New Jersey based 501.3 organization whose mission is to provide transition assistance and open career doors for military veterans.

The organization holds programs and seminars on military installations as well as college campuses teaching veterans tactics, techniques and procedures for employment in the civilian workplace. Coffee available at the Commissioning Store comes in both one-pound packages and 24 K cup boxes.

The Coffee the Bridging the Gap organization has introduced is a mild roast blend called Anchors Away Available immediately on the submarine commissioning committee’s website, it will also soon be available through various fundraising programs with youth groups. Kiosks are set up in Atlantic City for its Air Show as well as in numerous towns for their special activities. All products will be available at various locations during Commissioning Week.

In its five years, the Commissioning Committee has introduced the new submarine and its pre-commissioning crew to the state for which it is named. Starting with a group of five members of the Navy League, the committee has grown into a separate (501) 3 c nonprofit organization with 17 members, all of whom have background or attachments with the US Navy, with five of them submariners and three executives from the Battleship New Jersey (BB62) museum in Camden. Also serving on the committee is the parent of a sailor stationed on the submarine.

Purposes of the Commission is to organize and fund various events surrounding the upcoming ceremony and to establish and grow a relationship between the new ship and its namesake state’s residents. The Commission arranged for members of the pre-commissioning crew to visit various locations in the state meeting with students, residents and municipal. County and state leaders.

Their first visit last year included spending time with the NJROTC cadets at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology at Sandy Hook, as well as at Hartshorne Woods, the Monmouth County historic park where guns from the second state named ship New Jersey (BB62) are part of the former fortification overlooking New York Harbor.

Commission Committee member Peter Engleman pointed out that many of the items in the shop are common elements seen in any ship’s store, including caps and sweatshirts, as well as challenge coins and stickers, water bottles and spicy sauce.

Also to be included in the new merchandise available at the store will be the commissioning coin with a design by MAST student Russell Karchmer. Kashmer’s design and artwork for one side of the coin was the winning entry out of the more than 300 submitted by students from throughout New Jersey.

The ship’s coin and one representing the legacy, the two previously New Jersey-named ships, BB 16 and BB62 will also be offered for sale, either individually or a set of the three, each with its own design. Engelman said the shop may also carry prints of a painting of the submarine.

Persons wishing to view and purchase items from the Submarine New Jersey (SSN796) store can visit their website at http://njcommissioning.org

Sculptures of former Bank President William C. Johnson and Courier newspaper publisher Matthew J. Gill have been installed in the new Township Hall, fulfilling a promise Mayor Anthony Perry made to the Gill family.

The sculptures were created by famed artist Donald DeLue after both township leaders died within six months of each other in the early 1980s. The town hall addition built shortly after was named the Johnson Gill Building in their honor. Both sculptures stood at the door of the building reminding visitors of the importance of being involved and compassionate parts of the community.

When members of Gill’s family met with the mayor after the building was torn down, the Mayor assured them he would have the sculptures back in Town Hall. In the meantime, the sculptures were moved to the Middletown Township library so they could remain on display during construction.

Last month, the library and township moved both sculptures back to the new Town Hall where they oversee the most used meeting room on the first floor of the complex.

Johnson was born Jan.23, 1902 and died Oct. 20, 1981; Gill was born Jan. 7, 1921 and died Feb. 15, 1982. Both were contemporaries and friends of DeLue who was born in 1897 and died in 1988.

DeLue, whose sculptures are internationally known, was highly regarded and held in esteem not only for his sculptures but also his medals and medallions, marveling the world of artisans with the ability to create beauty in both larger than and smaller than life artistic pieces. Many of his sculptures he designed and created in his studio in Leonardo. His Flame Thrower was a significant design created for the New York World’s Fair.

DeLue sculptures now appear in museums, colleges, universities and national parks and historic sites throughout the United States as well as in several locations in France. He has numerous works at Gettysburg and at Valley Forge, as well as his nine-foot-tall sculpture of Thomas Jefferson, which is at Wichita State University in Kansas.

Gill who published The Courier, the township’s most popular weekly newspaper, from 1960 until his death after which it was sold to former State Senator and US Navy Captain Joseph Azzolina. He is recognized on the sculpture for his newspaper, as well as for being an eminent and highly respected Middletown real estate broker and former post commander of the VJW Post 2179.  The inscription below the sculpture reads  “ He touched many lives in his lifetime.”

The fourth generation of his farming family born in Middletown, the newspaper publisher went to local schools before joining the US Navy and serving in World War II. In addition to founding several other businesses in the township as well as purchasing and expanding the award winning Courier, he was also president of Gill Realty, Gill Associates and Gill Travel. He served the township on the first township Economic Council, the Human Rights Council, the Monmouth County Narcotics Council and the Port of Monmouth. He was honored by the Chamber of Commerce as the Businessman of the Year.”

Johnson was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and moved to the United States with his parents in 1910 when the family settled in Keansburg.. He started his banking career as a clerk at the Keansburg National Bank, then worked for several years at Irving Trust in New York, before returning to the Keansburg Bank. He then rose through the ranks from clerk to bank president, remaining as president when it became the Keansburg Middletown Bank, and Chairman of the Committee when that merger then became United Counties National Bank. He also served the township as a Township Committeeman, planning board member, tax assessor and tax collector.

Beneath his sculpture are the words by which long time local residents remember Johnson: “A Banker with a Heart.”