thedrifter
07-08-08, 06:30 AM
July 8, 2008
Vets have new burial option
By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff
Seven flags flap in the breeze on poles high above a black granite monument at the Bordentown Cemetery.
The monument along Cross-wicks Road is not a typical gravestone. It marks the cemetery's newly opened section of 1,200 gravesites to be dedicated exclusively to burials for military veterans.
The American flag with a POW/MIA flag waves above six other flags representing all five military branches -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard -- and also the Merchant Marine. Below them is the black Bordentown Veterans Memorial stone with all the service emblems.
"Burial with dignity is our motto here. We take special care in handling the deceased," said cemetery manager J. Jac Madson.
Madson said he is discussing sales with interested families but that no plots have been sold in the new section since it opened three weeks ago.
He said the trustees of the Bordentown Cemetery Association created the special section for soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Merchant Marine for several reasons.
The Beverly National Cemetery has not had available plots for many years and the newer state Brigadier Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Arneytown is on the Ocean County boundary and not convenient for all county families, he said.
"The family of any soldier from Bordentown or anywhere else can choose our cemetery if they wish," he said.
The new veterans memorial section is in a prominent spot flanked by two rows of 19 stately evergreens and Swedish and sugar maples trees and fronting on Cross-wicks Road (Route 528) at the entrance to the 27-acre cemetery. Other veterans already are buried throughout the nondenominational cemetery, whose burials date to the 1740s.
There will be no raised headstones at the veterans section at Bordentown. Madson said all will be flush with the ground to allow those passing by to see the familiar raised stones already behind that section.
One of the major differences between the state cemetery and this one is cost for a plot. The purchase price at Bordentown Cemetery is from $1,000 to $1,400 while the Arneytown plot is free.
"I think it's a neat thing that they did to honor veterans," said Walter Tafe, director of the county office of military and veterans services.
He said he does not believe the cost will have much of a bearing on a family decision for burial.
"We have a lot of veterans buried in private cemeteries all over the county," he said, "and though Arneytown has lots of room, it often has 15 to 20 burials a day."
Tafe said the county has an estimated 45,000 veterans who are residents, more than most counties partly because of its proximity to Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force base.
Sgt. First Class Marc Berk-ey-heiser, an Army reservist and Trenton policeman who lives next door to the cemetery, evoked cheers and tears when he raised the flag at the dedication ceremony in June. He is due to deploy to Iraq next month for his second tour there and will conduct criminal investigations involving Army interests, he said.
"It was a very nice gesture -- what the cemetery has done for the veterans -- and they did a great job on the monument itself," said Berk-ey-heiser.
Reach Carol Comegno at (609) 267-9486 or ccomegno@courierpostonline.com
Ellie
Vets have new burial option
By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff
Seven flags flap in the breeze on poles high above a black granite monument at the Bordentown Cemetery.
The monument along Cross-wicks Road is not a typical gravestone. It marks the cemetery's newly opened section of 1,200 gravesites to be dedicated exclusively to burials for military veterans.
The American flag with a POW/MIA flag waves above six other flags representing all five military branches -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard -- and also the Merchant Marine. Below them is the black Bordentown Veterans Memorial stone with all the service emblems.
"Burial with dignity is our motto here. We take special care in handling the deceased," said cemetery manager J. Jac Madson.
Madson said he is discussing sales with interested families but that no plots have been sold in the new section since it opened three weeks ago.
He said the trustees of the Bordentown Cemetery Association created the special section for soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Merchant Marine for several reasons.
The Beverly National Cemetery has not had available plots for many years and the newer state Brigadier Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Arneytown is on the Ocean County boundary and not convenient for all county families, he said.
"The family of any soldier from Bordentown or anywhere else can choose our cemetery if they wish," he said.
The new veterans memorial section is in a prominent spot flanked by two rows of 19 stately evergreens and Swedish and sugar maples trees and fronting on Cross-wicks Road (Route 528) at the entrance to the 27-acre cemetery. Other veterans already are buried throughout the nondenominational cemetery, whose burials date to the 1740s.
There will be no raised headstones at the veterans section at Bordentown. Madson said all will be flush with the ground to allow those passing by to see the familiar raised stones already behind that section.
One of the major differences between the state cemetery and this one is cost for a plot. The purchase price at Bordentown Cemetery is from $1,000 to $1,400 while the Arneytown plot is free.
"I think it's a neat thing that they did to honor veterans," said Walter Tafe, director of the county office of military and veterans services.
He said he does not believe the cost will have much of a bearing on a family decision for burial.
"We have a lot of veterans buried in private cemeteries all over the county," he said, "and though Arneytown has lots of room, it often has 15 to 20 burials a day."
Tafe said the county has an estimated 45,000 veterans who are residents, more than most counties partly because of its proximity to Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force base.
Sgt. First Class Marc Berk-ey-heiser, an Army reservist and Trenton policeman who lives next door to the cemetery, evoked cheers and tears when he raised the flag at the dedication ceremony in June. He is due to deploy to Iraq next month for his second tour there and will conduct criminal investigations involving Army interests, he said.
"It was a very nice gesture -- what the cemetery has done for the veterans -- and they did a great job on the monument itself," said Berk-ey-heiser.
Reach Carol Comegno at (609) 267-9486 or ccomegno@courierpostonline.com
Ellie