thedrifter
04-11-08, 05:25 AM
April 11, 2008
From one vet to another
By JOSEPH SAPIA
FREEHOLD BUREAU
The old Marine still has the fight in him.
For Joe Dangler, 77, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major, the battle involves an old family cemetery — on what was once a farm, but now sits between two large houses in a subdivision — in a rural area along Route 527.
The issue is simple to Dangler: Why are the graves of two military veterans, Jonathan Forman and Joseph Preston, not formally decorated with an American flag?
There should be no debate, according to Dangler, because they are not veterans of just any war. They are veterans of the Revolutionary War, which resulted in America being America.
"People can talk about veterans," said Dangler, who lives in neighboring Millstone Township. "But if these guys didn't pick up their rifles, we'd be talking King's English. Real simple."
According to Edward J. Raser's 2002 book, "New Jersey Graveyard and Gravestone Inscriptions Locators: Monmouth County," the cemetery was used from 1750 to perhaps 1857.
The size of the inconspicuous cemetery, according to Dangler, is 3 rods by 3 rods, or about 50 feet by 50 feet.
Recent plantings of evergreens outline it. But it is probably more easily located by finding the utility containers between No. 11 and No. 13 Rifkin Court and looking behind it.
What had been the Rifkin Farm — marked by Route 527 and its well-known farm stand, which remains — is now another subdivision of large houses, this one sitting across from the Monmouth County's Charleston Spring Golf Course.
The cemetery is simple — eight graves that are definitely marked and another four that are possibly marked (depending on whether smaller stones are actually gravestones meaning separate graves or footstones related to marked graves). Dangler believes there is another grave there that is unmarked.
Dangler said he has known about this cemetery for years. In 1974, when he retired from the Marines after almost 23 years, Dangler began researching his family, which dates back to the 1600s in Monmouth County.
He started out researching the Dangler family. To find out whom the Dangler women married, he looked at deeds. Then, Dangler started researching cemeteries.
The research led him, here, to the Preston Family Burial Ground, as the Raser book calls it. Dangler knows it as the Joseph Preston Burial Ground, while the Monmouth County Office of Veterans' Interment and Affairs calls it the Jacob Preston Burial Ground.
Joseph Preston died at 89 in 1822, according to his gravestone. He was a private in the Continental Army, Dangler said.
Forman died at 61 in 1818, according to his gravestone.
So, about three years ago, as Rifkin farm fields were being transformed into a development, Dangler began looking into who was supposed to be decorating the Preston and Forman graves. Normally, a veterans organization decorates graves.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Millstone Township had been assigned the Preston cemetery, but the post disbanded years ago, said Russell Keimig, supervisor of the county veterans office.
In 2005, Dangler picked up two American flags from the American Legion Post 434 in Manalapan and decorated the graves. In 2006, on two occasions, Dangler decorated the graves — once with flags he bought, the other time with flags from the county veterans office.
In 2007, another veterans group was supposed to decorate the Preston cemetery, but Dangler said the graves remained undecorated. What apparently happened was the decorating slipped through the cracks with no one from the post placing flags.
With Memorial Day next month, who will decorate the graves?
"They can argue about vets of any war, but they can't argue with vets of the Revolutionary War," Dangler said.
This year, the Marine Corps League's Philip A. Reynolds Detachment, based in Freehold Township, is taking over decorating the Preston cemetery, Keimig said. Keimig is a member of that detachment.
"That makes me happy, yeah," said Dangler, when told of the arrangement.
Perhaps knowing something about Dangler's background explains his determination. Dangler is an old "mustang," a military enlisted person who worked his way up to an officer's rank.
"I'm not interested in me," Dangler said. "I'm interested in who's decorating (the cemetery)."
Ellie
From one vet to another
By JOSEPH SAPIA
FREEHOLD BUREAU
The old Marine still has the fight in him.
For Joe Dangler, 77, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major, the battle involves an old family cemetery — on what was once a farm, but now sits between two large houses in a subdivision — in a rural area along Route 527.
The issue is simple to Dangler: Why are the graves of two military veterans, Jonathan Forman and Joseph Preston, not formally decorated with an American flag?
There should be no debate, according to Dangler, because they are not veterans of just any war. They are veterans of the Revolutionary War, which resulted in America being America.
"People can talk about veterans," said Dangler, who lives in neighboring Millstone Township. "But if these guys didn't pick up their rifles, we'd be talking King's English. Real simple."
According to Edward J. Raser's 2002 book, "New Jersey Graveyard and Gravestone Inscriptions Locators: Monmouth County," the cemetery was used from 1750 to perhaps 1857.
The size of the inconspicuous cemetery, according to Dangler, is 3 rods by 3 rods, or about 50 feet by 50 feet.
Recent plantings of evergreens outline it. But it is probably more easily located by finding the utility containers between No. 11 and No. 13 Rifkin Court and looking behind it.
What had been the Rifkin Farm — marked by Route 527 and its well-known farm stand, which remains — is now another subdivision of large houses, this one sitting across from the Monmouth County's Charleston Spring Golf Course.
The cemetery is simple — eight graves that are definitely marked and another four that are possibly marked (depending on whether smaller stones are actually gravestones meaning separate graves or footstones related to marked graves). Dangler believes there is another grave there that is unmarked.
Dangler said he has known about this cemetery for years. In 1974, when he retired from the Marines after almost 23 years, Dangler began researching his family, which dates back to the 1600s in Monmouth County.
He started out researching the Dangler family. To find out whom the Dangler women married, he looked at deeds. Then, Dangler started researching cemeteries.
The research led him, here, to the Preston Family Burial Ground, as the Raser book calls it. Dangler knows it as the Joseph Preston Burial Ground, while the Monmouth County Office of Veterans' Interment and Affairs calls it the Jacob Preston Burial Ground.
Joseph Preston died at 89 in 1822, according to his gravestone. He was a private in the Continental Army, Dangler said.
Forman died at 61 in 1818, according to his gravestone.
So, about three years ago, as Rifkin farm fields were being transformed into a development, Dangler began looking into who was supposed to be decorating the Preston and Forman graves. Normally, a veterans organization decorates graves.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Millstone Township had been assigned the Preston cemetery, but the post disbanded years ago, said Russell Keimig, supervisor of the county veterans office.
In 2005, Dangler picked up two American flags from the American Legion Post 434 in Manalapan and decorated the graves. In 2006, on two occasions, Dangler decorated the graves — once with flags he bought, the other time with flags from the county veterans office.
In 2007, another veterans group was supposed to decorate the Preston cemetery, but Dangler said the graves remained undecorated. What apparently happened was the decorating slipped through the cracks with no one from the post placing flags.
With Memorial Day next month, who will decorate the graves?
"They can argue about vets of any war, but they can't argue with vets of the Revolutionary War," Dangler said.
This year, the Marine Corps League's Philip A. Reynolds Detachment, based in Freehold Township, is taking over decorating the Preston cemetery, Keimig said. Keimig is a member of that detachment.
"That makes me happy, yeah," said Dangler, when told of the arrangement.
Perhaps knowing something about Dangler's background explains his determination. Dangler is an old "mustang," a military enlisted person who worked his way up to an officer's rank.
"I'm not interested in me," Dangler said. "I'm interested in who's decorating (the cemetery)."
Ellie