Remembering the Fallen
By Charles P. Eberson
Senior Moments
Highway Route 50 is a meandering two-lane road cutting through the bucolic countryside of Atlantic and Cape May counties. The Atlantic County Park in Estell Manor is located at 109 Rt. 50. Within the park is a Nature Center, playgrounds, hiking trails, barbeque pavilions and a beautiful river view complete with a bench for one’s contemplations. The park is also home to an ever-expanding Veteran’s Cemetery, which I learned of 32 years ago when my father, Army Air Corps Staff Sergeant Bernard Eberson, was laid to rest there. I never knew the park existed until his flag draped coffin was transported there, accompanied by a military contingent and culminated with a flyover by the local Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing. Apparently, my father was well acquainted with the park and the cemetery and frequented it often without our knowledge and now, my family and I are frequent visitors especially on Memorial Day Weekends.
On the Friday of the holiday weekend, the county hosts a ceremony honoring the veterans and their spouses who are buried in the cemetery. Over the decades, the graves have been more numerous and the attendees less so but there are nods of recognition as the crowd returns for yet another year of remembrance.
In the distance, bagpipes can be heard playing hymns of the various armed forces as they march towards us accompanied by their drummers. Atlantic County Executive, Dennis Levenson has been giving a poignant opening speech for years and there is always an impressive keynote speaker conveying the weight of the debt we all owe our veterans. An honor guard is present, and a wreath is laid as the American flag is lowered to half-mast. Veterans, some of whom are helped to their feet, stand at attention and salute Old Glory, our flag which for over 250 years has flown over battlefields both on land and sea, sometimes in tatters. Taps, a haunting and distinctive melody of only 24 notes is played by a single bugler and concludes the ceremony. The crowd quietly disburses and many, like my wife and I, return to our loved one’s graves to pay our respects on a day that has meant so much to them and to us.
So, on Monday, Memorial Day, we will have our barbeque with the traditional hot dogs, hamburgers and maybe even some potato salad with some close friends but the real meaning of the holiday will still be in the forefront of our minds.
Atlantic County Veteran’s Program, Friday, May 26 at 2 pm. Atlantic County Park, Rt. 50, Estell Manor.
Charles Eberson has been in the newspaper business for over 25 years. He has worked as a writer, advertising executive, circulation manager and photographer. His photography can be viewed at charles-eberson.fineartamerica.com
One Response
I started the Memorial Day flyover at the park by my old unit, the 177th, when I called the base commander and told him it would be an impressive and moving sight when they were laying my father, Bernard Eberson, to rest there., if our guys could roar by overhead. We were in luck, they had a unit returning from the gunnery range at the right time and would have enough fuel for a minor course deviation and a pass. They didn’t know where it was back in 1992, despite my best directions (before we had a GPS in our pocket), they missed by just a little, we didn’t see them. It’s the thought that counts. My 177th’s leadership came through…and so did my pilots. I used to maintain their flight simulator back during the war in Nam.