EAST HANOVER — Morris County Sheriff’s Officers from the Bureaus of Corrections and Law Enforcement – along with some of their children and members of Explorers Post 140 – paid their respects on May 18 to servicemen and women by placing American flags on hundreds of graves at Restland Memorial Park in East Hanover.
The pre-Memorial Day tribute was on behalf of American Legion Post 421 in East Hanover, whose Commander, Herman Marmon, a retired Lieutenant Colonel who completed three tours in Vietnam, greeted the group and supplied the flags.
Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon, Bureau of Corrections Undersheriff Alan J. Robinson and Morris County Correctional Facility Warden Chris Klein were part of the group that spent hours at the sprawling cemetery where veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and even the Spanish-American War, are buried.
“When you place those flags, keep in your memory those people who have gone before us and made this country the beautiful one that it is. Thank you and God bless,” Sheriff Gannon told the group before they set out across the lawn with their flags.
Bureau of Corrections Officer Dave Wasilewski participated in placing the flags with his son Cross, a student at the Delbarton School. Officer Wasilewski said he brings his mother every Father’s Day to a cemetery in Lodi, where they place flowers on the graves of his grandfather, a World War II U.S. Army veteran, and his great-grandfather, a veteran of World War I.
Morris County Sheriff’s Office Explorers Post 140 members Jeffrey Brodhecker and Andrew Garcia, along with Andrew’s father, U.S. Navy veteran Rick Garcia, volunteered for the activity.
Between placing flags, Bureau of Corrections Lt. Michael Schweizer had the chance to visit the grave of his grandmother, who is buried near the chapel at Restland Memorial Park.
