Vets’ Cemetery Upgrades Begin

CREST HAVEN – Cape May County Veterans’ Cemetery, which slipped below military spit-and-polish standards over the decades since its dedication in 1980, is finally getting attention.
Walkways, “an eyesore for many years,” are being removed as a first chapter in the restoration of the final resting place for about 4,800 county veterans and spouses, according to new Facilities and Services Director Ann Marie McMahon. She presented a PowerPoint slide show to freeholders Feb. 12 at their caucus session.
Walkways will be removed and replaced with top soil and then hydro-seeded with grass. Some of those walkways have been uprooted by trees, causing a “a terrible tripping hazard,“ for those visiting graves of their loved ones, she added.
She projected that a “concern” was the walking distance to graves, which in some cases, could be up to about 115 feet. “In some cases that may be extreme,” she noted, but added, “Most other cemeteries (distances) are greater than that.”
McMahon acknowledged her “biggest complaint that bugged me from the first time I have gone out there,” was that “everything is uneven. The grave markers are unevenly spaced. “It is really disrespectful how it looks,” she said.
That is going to change.
Grave markers will be lifted slightly, and placed on a “compactable” material, like cement, that will harden so the markers will not sink. Additionally, aluminum edging will be placed around markers so that grass will not be able to grow over them.
Finally, markers will be placed in straight military-like regimen.
Signage, another sore point for McMahon, will be consolidated to one place near the entrance. Presently, there are signs prohibited pets, another states protocol for flower placement. They detract from the solemnity of the hallowed ground, and will be replaced with a tasteful sign relating needed information.
Time has taken its toll on bricks and paint on objects in the circle, where the flagpole, anchor, and non-working gun are located.
Included in the cemetery upgrade will be gray paint for the anchor and gun, and a new granite base for the bronze plaque honoring Gold Star Mothers of Cape May County, said McMahon.
Power washing of the bases of those monuments is planned, and trash receptacles will be painted and, eventually, replaced.
Another of McMahon’s sore points is that, at every corner in the driveway, areas used for vehicles turning, have been washed away.
“Everyone cuts corners,” she told the board. “It erodes the grass and makes mud, it looks terrible.”
To eradicate that problem, McMahon planes to place split rail fences are each corner to protect the ground.
Also ordered were 10 benches of recycled material, at $450 each, to address another major concern of families: there was no place to sit and remember or contemplate. McMahon said other benches were priced from $700 to $800.
To ensure that the grass is watered, even in dry times, McMahon will place water cannons. “We don’t want to spend money, and not have good grass,” she added.
Asked about those in wheelchairs, McMahon said in Atlantic County, which has an even larger veterans’ cemetery than in Cape May County, the entire area is grass. “They have not had too many complaints,” she said.
Gone is a small kiosk where grave directories had been located. In its place will be a touch-screen with no keyboard or mouse to maneuver located in the shelter near the cemetery entrance. She said it would connect to a database in the administration building.
“Hopefully it will be more functional than it was before,” McMahon said.
A group of veterans’ organizations representatives attended the meeting. One asked Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton about memorial plaques for the benches, or possibly paying the cost of a bench and plaque. “We can do that,” said Thornton.
“The only problem, I will say this, there can only be so many benches. Everybody’s got to understand. We will not have 6,000 benches out there.”
McMahon reminded the board that she plans to be “much more strict” with the condition of the cemetery than others were in the past.
McMahon reminded the board “It was a long time in the making” and all repairs could not be made “overnight.”
Repairs have begun in Section A, nearest the front of the cemetery.
“I want consistency,” said McMahon.
“Ann Marie has worked very hard, and so has her staff. Well done,” said Thornton, an Air Force veteran.
He was told that some markers had been damaged by gravediggers.
“If we find them, we will replace them. When we see them out there, we will replace them,” said Thornton in response to a veteran’s concern.
Thornton cited newly-approved policies that govern the cemetery.
“I assure that with the policies and procedures in place now, things will change significantly. We will do what is necessary to make them (responsible parties) pay (for damages to markers.),” Thornton concluded.
Since Andrew S. Demyan, an Army Air Corps veterans was interred in grave A0001 at Cape May County Veterans Cemetery there were no regulations regarding grave digging.