LOWER TOWNSHIP, Nov. 11, 2026 — Lower Township dedicated the Sergeant Michael P. Scusa Memorial Pickleball Courts at 2600 Bayshore Road in the Villas on Wednesday, Veterans Day, honoring the Villas soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2009.
Mayor Frank Sippel and Township Council led the ceremony, the township said. In a statement after the unveiling, the township called Scusa "a hometown hero who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country" and said, "His legacy and sacrifice will never be forgotten."
Scusa, 22, of the Villas, died Oct. 3, 2009, in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his outpost with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and indirect fire, the Department of Defense said at the time. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, at Fort Carson, Colorado.
He was one of eight U.S. soldiers killed in the attack in Nuristan province, near the Pakistan border. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 2009 that Scusa was a graduate of Lower Cape May Regional High School and was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
He is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, according to the Army.
The fight at Combat Outpost Keating, known as the Battle of Kamdesh, is the subject of the 2020 film "The Outpost," directed by Rod Lurie and based on Jake Tapper's book of the same name. Military Times lists Scusa among the eight soldiers who died there.
