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Whippany High grad died while manning a checkpoint in Iraq

BY NAVID IQBAL
DAILY RECORD

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HANOVER -- Large-scale ceremonies are planned town-wide Wednesday to mark the death of a Cedar Knolls Marine who graduated from Whippany Park High School.

The 23-year-old Marine Lance Cpl., Christopher Cosgrove III, was killed in a suicide car bombing while manning a checkpoint in Iraq Oct. 1. He graduated from Whippany High School in 2001.

"I am hoping Hanover will make a grand showing to honor our local fallen Marine," Township Committeeman Len Fariello said in an e-mail Monday.

Cosgrove is the first member of the military from Hanover to die in combat since the Vietnam War,. Hanover has lost 19 people in armed combat overseas, mostly during World War II, Fariello said.

The Morris County Freeholders donated 1,500 flags to the Township of Hanover for use during the Cosgrove funeral precession.

Whippany Park High School's band and color guard, football team, varsity cheerleaders and others also will participate.

The funeral precession will travel on Whippany Road to Park Avenue, pass Cosgrove's neighborhood in Trailwood, to St. Vincent's Church in Madison then to the Gates of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover.

Police Capt. Shawn Waldron said the Cosgrove funeral procession Wednesday morning will shut down several streets. Whippany Road between Parsippany Road and Ford Hill Road will be closed for about 15 minutes around 9:30 a.m. while the funeral precession passes by the schools.

Police expect delays along Whippany Road, Park and Ridgedale avenues in Cedar Knolls from from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Delays are also expected on Ridgedale Avenue in Florham Park, Madison and East Hanover from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m.

Visitation hours

Visitation for Cosgrove is from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. today - at the Birchwood Manor, 11 North Jefferson Road in Whippany.

Relatives of Cosgrove created the Web site http://www.chriscosgrove.org/, where hundreds of people have left messages of condolence.

In lieu of flowers, relatives ask that donations be made to any of the following the charities: The Lance Cpl. Christopher Cosgrove Memorial Scholarship, Whippany Park High School 165 Whippany Rd., Whippany, N.J. 07981; Marines Helping Marines, 18 S. Belair Ave., Cedar Knolls, N.J. 07927 or the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, P.O. Box 37, Mountain Lakes, N.J. 07046.

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