Mayor calls for Vet homeless shelter at Fort

By Jonathan Weber
Eatontown — In his Veterans Day speech, Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo called for a homeless shelter at the now closed Fort Monmouth.

“Just 200 yards from this place (Wampum Park’s Veterans Plaza) the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Committee is considering a program called ‘Soldier On.’ This program is dedicated to relieve homelessness in our veteran population,” Tarantolo told those assembled for Friday’s Veterans Day celebration. “I urge all of you to also support this program.”
In his speech, the mayor quoted statistics for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs which claims that on any given night, there are almost 200,000 vets sleeping in doorways, alleys, or boxes. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that during any given year, 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness.
Unlike prior years, there was no one from Fort Monmouth to give the keynote speech. The 1,000+ acre military facility is shuttered and deserted, with only a small contingent of New Jersey State Police patrolling the grounds.
Even the weather seemed angry at the closing, as 40-mile gusts of cold wind blew during the speeches.
About 250 people braved the chill on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of the eleventh year of the twenty-first century to honor the nation’s veterans.