Community comes together to clean veterans’ gravestones in Nutley
Some of the tombstones in the Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Nutley are over a century old and starting to show their age.
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A New Jersey town is paying it forward, working together to honor veterans while keeping the community clean.
Some of the tombstones in the Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Nutley are over a century old and starting to show their age. The veteran gravesites will now look new again, thanks to a group in town.
"The weather took its toll, the elements over the years. This is a very old cemetery, some of the vets here date back to the Spanish-American War," said John Kelly III, commissioner of Public Affairs.
"This year, we wanted to take it a step further and further honor those veterans that were laid to rest here. Cleaning and polishing all the headstones to bring them back to life," said Daniel Jocoby, director of the Military and Veteran Affairs Bureau.
There are two cemeteries in town-- Veteran Memorial and Franklin Reformed Cemetary. With a little love and care, the gravestones will stand the test of time. The only cost to help is a little elbow grease.
This is certainly a passion project for those involved in the veteran and military public affairs group.
There is a veterans' benefit in town happening on April 27, hosted by a local restaurant. All proceeds will go toward a gravesite marker. The goal is to place each marker in the ground near veterans' graves and this will help note which gravesites belong to a veteran.
