By Stephanie Loder
Thanks to Eagle Scout Peter Burns, III, there is a new veterans memorial outside the Bargaintown Firehouse Station 2 in Egg Harbor Township.
Burns, who has been in scouting since age six, completed the project outside of the Bargaintown Firehouse on Tony ‘Mink’ Pagano Drive.
He is the son of Peter Burns, Jr., a member of the fire company for 25 years.
The idea for a veterans memorial came from Bargaintown Fire Company President Dennis Hofmann, a veteran.
“We had a 9/11 memorial at our firehouse on Mill Road, but we needed something at Station 2,” Hofmann said.
Burns, a senior at St. Augustine Preparatory School in Richland, is a member of Troop 55 in Somers Point. He worked with his father and Hofmann to design and erect the veterans memorial for his Eagle Scout project.
“We wanted something for all of the veterans,” Hofmann said.
The result was a veterans memorial with statues representing all five military branches.
The veterans memorial took more than a year of decision-making and labor.
“It was a year and a half ago I happened to get a call from Dennis who asked if I knew any scouts in the township because they were looking at doing a project at the firehouse,” said Burns’ father. “It just happened that my son was gearing up for an Eagle Scout project.”
Burns, his son, and Hofmann met at the firehouse to decide on the layout of the memorial and what it should include.
“We kind of brainstormed it and decided that putting something around the flagpole, like mulch and other landscaping, would be a good idea,” the father said.
They agreed to use a raised wall platform to display five military statues purchased by the Bargaintown Fire Company.
“Dennis spoke with my son and he came up with the materials to use to build it,” the father said. “Then we drew something up and presented it to the fire company for consideration and approval. My son set out to find where we could find materials to create a garden.
“We decided on a footprint that was 12 x 24 to the left of station 2,” the father said. “The idea was to have a couple of benches where people can sit and reflect. My son was able to get materials for mulching out the area and the rock for the base of the wall donated from Old Cape Recycling and then he reached out to get the block for the wall from Action Supply.”
An American flag and two benches were added to the completed project.
“I’m a big flag guy, so we definitely needed the flag,” Hofmann said.
One of the firefighters also ran wiring for electricity so the memorial could be lit at night.
The veterans memorial began as a concept in April 2023 and the Eagle Scout was able to get all of the materials donated around October of last year.
The project was built between mid-April and the end of June this year, the father said.
The veterans memorial is dedicated to all veterans, past and future, said Hofmann, who spent six years in the Army National Guard.
“We have many firefighters in this township who are veterans as well. This is for every veteran,” he said.
Peter is a 5th generation scout, according to his father who said “I am an Eagle Scout, my dad was a scout, my maternal grandfather was an Eagle Scout, and his father, Peter’s great-great-grandfather, was the Scoutmaster of a Troop in Philadelphia for 20 years starting in 1937. ”