Freeholder John C. Bartlett, Jr., with a World War I era cannon in front of the Ocean County Court House in Toms River, marks the centennial anniversary of the United States entry into World War I.

The Court House is adorned with patriotic bunting, similar to what hung from the same location when local troops gathered in Downtown Toms River before shipping off to war in 1917 and 1918.

On Thursday, April 6, exactly 100 years from the day war was declared on Germany, Bartlett presided over a ceremony in historic Courtroom No. 1 honoring the 2,433 Ocean County residents who fought in the war and the 75 men who never returned.

The ceremony included World War I-era music by the Garden State Philharmonic, period newspaper readings by local high school students and remembrances by Freeholder Bartlett and other county officials.