While the family of Sgt. Matthew Joskowitz looked on Friday, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division brought one of their own home to New Jersey to be laid to rest.
The members of his platoon accompanied the flag-draped casket from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where the 24-year-old from Fairview was killed in an accident Oct. 31. The U.S. Army said his death was not training-related and remains under investigation.
A convoy of roughly 20 law enforcement vehicles, a fire truck and the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club escorted his casket from Newark Liberty International Airport to Macagna Funeral Home in Cliffside Park.
There, the men Joskowitz considered his brothers carried his casket somberly, accompanying him on the last leg of his journey home.
“It’s overwhelming to see the amount of love here,” his mother, Rachel Joskowitz, said outside the funeral home Friday. “All these people watched him grow up and all these people turned out. Everyone in town helped raise him.”
“My son always made me proud and he especially made me proud today,” she said.
His family, best friend and former wrestling coaches earlier this week described Joskowitz as a man of strong character, who was passionate about his work and doing the right thing, and also loved to make people laugh whenever possible.
Known as “Matty J” to his hometown friends in Bergen County and “Josko” to his platoon — Joskowitz served in the 2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, officials said.
He deployed to Afghanistan in 2017, his family said, and had just received news that he was being promoted to staff sergeant.
Joskowitz mother and uncle, David Joskowitz, said they heard heaps of praise from his fellow soldiers and commanders when they met with them separately at Fort Bragg.
"His command said it’s rare for someone just 24 years old to be in that position but he just moved up the ranks so quickly,” Rachel Joskowitz said.
His sister, Alyssa, said her big brother was caring, protective and always had good life advice. His fellow soldiers also told his family that he was always there for advice or to help them out if they struggled in training.
His best friend, Tommy Piccinich, said Joskowitz “wasn’t the biggest kid” when he was growing up in Fairview, but he had the biggest heart. If Joskowitz would want to be remembered for something, it would be his “fighting spirit,” Piccinich said.
“He never backed down, no matter what he was dealing with. He’d never give up,” he said.
Joskowitz was a passionate wrestler from a young age and became a star at Cliffside High School — the first student there to win 100 matches — before graduating in 2013.
His coaches said he was a great leader who was light-hearted and funny off the mat, but fierce and fearless when it was time to compete.
Charlie O’Hanlon, then assistant coach but now the head coach, said Joskowitz called him in September and expressed interest in being a volunteer coach if he was able to be stationed closer to Cliffside Park.
“The first thing on his mind once he heard that he may be coming back home was that he wanted to give back to the kids of Cliffside Park," O’Hanlon said. "That is the kind of person he was.”
- Staff Photographer Aristide Economopoulos contributed to this story.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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