04/07/04 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
 Marine Lt. John Thomas 'J.T.' Wroblewski 'was the best kid,' his mother, Shawn, said following his death after being wounded in Iraq. 'He loved what he was doing. He was going to be a Marine for life,' said his dad, John Walter. |
Marine from Jefferson dies after Iraqi attack
JEFFERSON -- A Marine from Jefferson died on Wednesday, one day after being wounded in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, his parents said.
Lt. John Thomas "J.T." Wroblewski, 25, a graduate of Jefferson High School and Rutgers University whose commitment to the Marines was cemented by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was Morris County's first fatality in Iraq.
Three Marines arrived at the family's front door at 8:30 p.m., ending a 24-hour vigil that began with a phone call Tuesday evening from Lt. Wroblewski's wife, Joanna, from Camp Pendleton in California.
"He was the best kid," his mother, Shawn Wroblewski, said shortly afterward.
Lt. Wroblewski's father, John Walter Wroblewski, said his son was wounded on Tuesday in Ramadi, where at least 12 Americans lost their lives in some of the fiercest fighting since Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed.
"He loved what he was doing. He was going to be a Marine for life," Wroblewski said.
Lt. Wroblewski met his future wife at County College of Morris and they married in July in Washington Township, his father said. They were living at Camp Pendleton when he was deployed to Iraq in July.
John Walter Wroblewski spoke with his grieving daughter-in-law by telephone on Wednesday night.
"She's a real trouper. She's taking it tough," Wroblewski said.
"They were both avid church-goers. They believed in the Lord and that really helps," he added.
Wroblewski said his son was a World War II expert and had a lifelong interest in the military that intensified following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"After Sept. 11, that kind of got him in motion," Wroblewski said of his son's decision to enroll in officer candidate school.
"He became my hero. He became my role model," Wroblewski said.
"He was a true Marine, through and through," he added.
The Wroblewskis last heard from their son in a letter on Monday. It had been mailed more than two weeks earlier.
In the letter, Lt. Wroblewski noted the high morale and camaraderie of his Marine unit in the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, which his father said was nicknamed the "Magnificent Bastards."
An aunt, Linda Cioce of Paramus, and her 13-year-old daughter, Kate, were at the Wroblewski house on Wednesday afternoon. She recalled Lt. Wroblewski trying to assuage her daughter's fears before he left for Iraq.
Cioce recalled him as "very caring and sensitive," adding, "He made everybody feel special."
Tuesday's ambush and three-hour gun battle in Ramadi began when Marines stopped to investigate a white civilian pickup left next to a wall on a footpath on a dusty street, U.S. officials said.
Ramadi is 18 miles from Fallujah. Both cities have been a base for insurgents looking to oust the U.S.-led occupation.
John Walter Wroblewski said his son had been in Ramadi and he assumed that he had been wounded in Tuesday's fighting.
"We knew he was in Ramadi. We knew he was there. We knew he was not going to Fallujah," he said.
Both parents stayed home from work on Wednesday and had been settling in for a potentially long vigil. A U.S. flag hung in the family's driveway on Wednesday afternoon.
Inside, Shawn Wroblewski was wearing a Marine Corps sweatshirt and sitting at a table.
Prayers were offered for Lt. Wroblewski at the start of Wednesday's 7 p.m. township council meeting, when his condition was still unknown.
Lt. Wroblewski, who also went by the nickname "Wrobo," played football and basketball at Jefferson High School, his father said. He transferred from CCM to Rutgers and graduated with a 3.7 grade-point average, he added.
Lt. Wroblewski would have turned 26 on April 16.
Bill Hine, a township resident who served in the Marines from 1976 to 1982, coached him in the local midget football league.
"He was a great kid. Real quiet. Real physically fit," said Hine, speaking before word of his death was announced.
"He was bent on being a Marine," Hine added.
Throughout the day, John Walter Wroblewski held out hope for the eldest of his four sons.
That hope ended when the three Marines arrived on Wednesday night.
"As soon as you open the door and see three of them, you know. They don't have to say anything," he said of the Marines.