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Ewing, NJ 08628
Fred William Zabitosky was born on October 27th, 1942, to Cora and Fred Theodore Zabitosky. The Zabitoskys lived on Perry Street in Trenton at the time of Fred's birth. Fred senior was a barber, who operated a barber shop on Broad Street in Trenton.
The Zabitosky family moved to Ewing township sometime around 1955, renting a home at 25 Oak Lane, off of Pennington Road. At this time, Fred senior operated a barber shop located on the grounds of 520 Ewingville Road. The building still stands, adjacent to the driveway which connects the nearby 7-11 side lot to the Robbins Pharmacy parking lot.
Having lived a turbulent and sometimes troubled life to this point, Fred dropped out of Ewing High School, class of 1960, in the summer after his junior year, 1959, and joined the US Army. It was around this time that Fred's parents and four siblings moved again, to Ortley Beach, NJ (just north of Seaside Heights).
Fred found a home, and embraced a lifestyle which seemed made for him, in the military. He excelled in the most difficult of regimens and became a senior enlisted man in the fledgling US Army Special Forces - the vaunted Green Berets. He completed thirty years of honorable service, including three tours of duty in Vietnam (where he earned his nation's highest award for valor), and is remembered today as a legend within the special forces community. The main thoroughfare in the Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, home of the Green Berets, is named after him - Zabitosky Street. Once his active duty military career ended, Zabitosky continued to serve his military brethren by working for the Veteran's Administration at Fort Bragg and by being active in the efforts to recover our MIA/POWs.
Sadly, Fred Zabitosky passed away from cancer at the age of 53, on January 8th, 1996, most likely the result of exposure to Agent Orange during his time in the jungles of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Zabitosky was predeceased by his son Edward and his wife, Carrie Mae, passed away in 2007. He is buried in Lumbee Memorial Gardens, Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina, USA.[1]
Thank God for men like Sergeant Zabitosky.