Breslin Monument

You are at the 9th Avenue pier, stop #9 on the Belmar Treasure Trail. At the front end of the pier, you’ll see the Breslin Monument, which we are extremely proud to have in a permanent place of honor in Belmar after a 50-year absence. The Breslin memorial has a storied place in Belmar history. Pat and Sandy Breslin were the unassuming proprietors of a small luncheonette and boat rental concession at the Belmar Marina. On December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, Pat and Sandy immediately wrote a letter to Congress offering their boating and fishing pier in the Belmar marina at no cost to soldiers, sailors and marines. Not only through the war years, but for another dozen years after the war ended, Pat and Sandy fed countless servicemen and women and lent them fishing tackle and rowboats. They would even insist the servicemen use their telephone to call home and talk to their loved ones. Over the years they received thousands of letters from servicemen and their families all over the world, and even from complete strangers thanking them for what they were doing. But they also heard about servicemen who shared their hospitality but hadn’t made it back from the war. So, during the summer of 1949, the Breslins dedicated a granite monument outside their luncheonette to express their gratitude to all who served, especially those who gave their lives. Their countless quiet acts of kindness led all the way to the White House, when, in 1953, they were honored in the nation’s capital by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, four years later, their concession license wasn’t renewed due to a planned marina renovation. The Breslin monument was put in storage until 1960, when the Breslins wrote to President Eisenhower to request his help in finding a permanent location for the memorial. The next year, it was placed at Fort Monmouth, where it remained until Belmar petitioned for its return after the closing of Fort Monmouth was announced. In 2010, it was officially dedicated in its new permanent home, here on the renovated 9th Avenue pier. If you walk to the end of the pier, you’ll get a panoramic view of the 800-acre Shark River Basin and our Belmar Marina, one of the major marinas along the Atlantic Ocean.