Dennis William Zilinski II

West Point, 2004

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Alan Van Saun on November 24, 2005:

The passing on of Dennis is not only a loss to all of us who knew him at West Point, but it's a loss to New Jersey, our Army and our country. After four years of training at West Point and a year at Ft. Benning, there is nothing that could have prepared me to react to this tragic event. It was not easy to hear the tragic news in between patrols, knowing that I had to turn around and go right back out. Dennis was my neighbor in the B-3 barracks for two years, and then my roommate for all of Firstie year. There was never a dull moment in our room and Dennis was like a brother to me. We got each other through hard times, we laughed at all of the good times and brought a little bit of Jersey spirit to everyone that entered our room. The last time I saw Dennis was in Kuwait before the 101st pushed into Iraq. Once again, Dennis was in great spirits and he was focused on his mission. I know that Dennis loved his job, he loved his soldiers and he died helping other people, like he had been doing his whole life. It is going to be hard to return from this war without Dennis by my side, but knowing that Dennis is in a better place now, where a faceless enemy cannot harm him, will help me get through each passing day. My deepest regards go out to the Zilinski family and my prayers will be with you. No words can make the pain go away, but hopefully we can all take comfort in knowing that Dennis gave the ultimate sacrifice that any man could give and he can finally be at peace.

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