SCHELLENGERS LANDING — The Cape May County Veterans Memorial Bridge located at the end of the Garden State Parkway will be dedicated for the second time in 49 years on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 11:30 a.m. It is named as a memorial to all service men and women of Cape May County past and present.
Veterans will be the honored guests at this dedication ceremony to take place at the foot of the Cape May Canal in Lower Township to the right of the bridge approach traveling South toward Cape May. The public is invited to attend. Plenty of parking is available. Speakers include Commander Joseph Harris, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 44; Captain Cari Thomas, United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May; Freeholder Gerald M. Thornton and Senator Jeff Van Drew. The USCG Band and Color Guard, veterans, dignitaries and community groups will participate in the program facilitated by Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Jeffrey L. Pierson of Upper Township. A plaque commemorating the naming will be unveiled.
The dedication of the bridge as a memorial to veterans was discussed earlier this year by the Cape May 400th Anniversary Committee as they planned events to mark the discovery of the Cape May peninsula 400 years ago by explorer Henry Hudson. Committee members asked Senator Jeff Van Drew to offer legislation to name the bridge and on September 13, 2009 P.L. 2009 Chapter 125 became law designating the bridge over State Highway 109 going over the Cape May Canal as the “Cape May County Veterans Memorial Bridge.”
The bridge was constructed in 1959 and completed in 1960. It was first dedicated November 5, 1960 without a name. It is impressive because of its vertical clearance of 55 feet over the Cape May Canal at high water. According to Robert W. Elwell of Cape May, co-chair of the Cape May 400th Anniversary Committee, “Originally, the bridge was to be named the ‘William C. Hunt Bridge’ to honor the former Republican State Senator, newspaper publisher and owner/operator of several movie theaters in the county. A veto exercised by then Democratic Governor Robert E. Meyner prevented the bridge being named for Hunt.” A subsequent effort to name the bridge as a memorial to veterans by the Peterson-Little VFW Post 386 of Cape May also failed. They had adopted a resolution requesting New Jersey State Highway Commissioner Dwight R.G. Palmer to name the bridge “the Cape May Canal Memorial Bridge” as a memorial to the men and women who gave their lives in service to their country.
“After all these years the committee felt the naming of the bridge was important as a lasting memorial for all our veterans in Cape May County.” Elwell said.
For more information on the Cape May County Veterans Memorial Bridge dedication ceremony contact Rita Marie Fulginiti, County Clerk at 609 465 1018.
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