Walk With Joe returns to Battlefield state park

MANALAPAN — A group of dedicated individuals will not let Americans forget the heroism of the passengers who were on United Airlines Flight 93 on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

The individuals who fought back against a team of hijackers will be honored during the ninth annual Walk With Joe to be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 at Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Route 33, Manalapan.

The event is a memorial 5K walk to remember Joe Driscoll and his fellow passengerswho resisted hijackers on the morning of the terrorist attacks on America.

Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pa., killing everyone aboard. It is believed that the terrorists were planning to crash the jet into a target in Washington, D.C.

Driscoll, 70, was a longtime resident of Manalapan who raised his family in the community and was well known as a youth sports coach and teacher of religious instruction. He died on Flight 93 as he was headed to Yosemite National Park in California for his annual hiking trip.

Driscoll’s son, Pat, is a member of the Yorktowne Club, a community benevolent organization in Manalapan which has coordinated the Walk With Joe since its inception.

Registration for the Walk With Joe is $15 per person, with children under 7 free. Registration for theWalk with Joe will be accepted on the day of the event at Battlefield State Park. For more information about the Walk With Joe visit www.walkwithjoe.com.

People of all ages from all towns are welcome to participate in the walk.

Proceeds will be donated to the Samaritan Center, which provides food for families in need in Manalapan, Englishtown, Marlboro and Millstone Township; the Open Door Food Pantry, Freehold; the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center, Freehold Township; the American Recreational Military Services; the Flight 93 Memorial; and the Christopher Gray Memorial Scholarship Fund at the University of West Virginia.

Manalapan High School graduate Chris Gray, the son of Yorktowne Club member and former Manalapan mayor Jim Gray, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001 while he was working at the World Trade Center in New York.

New this year is the event’s support for two scholarships at Manalapan High School. he scholarships will be presented to a young man and a young woman who have excelled in community service.

Those scholarships will be presented in the name of Thomas McCann, a firefighter who was killed as rescue efforts were under way in lower Manhattan following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Thomas McCann was the brother of Yorktowne Club member George McCann.