MANASQUAN — Members of Manasquan Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1838 gathered at Atlantic View Cemetery on Saturday, May 3, and in honor of the nationwide day of service, tidied up hundreds of veteran graves ahead of Memorial Day.
VFW Post Commander Glenn Miller told The Coast Star, “It’s interesting how there are a lot of old ones in the cemetery that are forgotten and that’s one thing that our VFW Post is about, remembering and taking care of our veterans, past veterans and current veterans.”
The veteran graves, many of which had become completely covered by overgrown grass, were identified by markings identifying the individual’s name, branch of service, duration of life and an insignia identifying the buried as a veteran, Miller said.
Among the graves cleaned, VFW members identified graves from the Spanish-American War fought in 1898, World War I, World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War, ultimately clearing over 400 graves from 1:15 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
VFW members first had spotters traverse the cemetery to identify veteran graves with a flag. Next, several members equipped with weedwackers and other devices cleared the marked graves. Lastly, members equipped with leafblowers would clear the trimmings from each grave.
The idea for the service initiative, headed by VFW member Mike Grady, was selected after local Boy Scout groups placed flags at veteran graves.
“What’s happened in the past we give them (the Boy Scouts) about 450 to 500 flags and they’d come back with 300 flags because they couldn’t find all the monuments and markers because they are all grown over with grass,” Miller said.
Grady, who volunteers with the local Scouts, started cleaning up the graves himself, Miller said, which led to the VFW identifying the large-scale grave cleanup effort to fulfill its annual day of service in accordance with the nationwide VFW organization. Post member Tom Crowley explained that the national VFW organization designates local posts like the Manasquan group to hold a day of service in May ahead of Memorial Day.
“More importantly, we do these things because they are worth doing. As an organization we have two objectives: to support veterans as a fraternal organization and to support our community,” Crowley said.
Following the installation of this year’s officers at VFW Post 1838, a handful of members traveled across town to Atlantic View Cemetery to begin the hour-long process of clearing hundreds of veteran graves ahead of Memorial Day.
“Those really old ones, those families may have moved on or passed away and those monuments sit there unattended and are just totally overgrown,” Miller said.
On Memorial Day, at 6 p.m., VFW members will assist Scouts from Troop 59 in placing flags around the graves of veterans at Atlantic View Cemetery.
This is an excerpt of the print article. For more on this story, read The Coast Star—on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Check out our other Manasquan stories, updated daily. And remember to pick up a copy of The Coast Star—on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Subscribe today! If you're not already an annual subscriber to The Coast Star, get your subscription today! For just $38 per year, you will receive local mail delivery weekly, with pages and pages of local news and online access to our e-edition on Starnewsgroup.com.
 6x10 4c.jpg)
