Cemeteries

[bykfixer]

My job takes me to places outside of my little bubble called home base to some places people never notice. As a roadway inspector my role is on foot along places most whizz by at the posted speed limit (or faster).

On a recent little project where a one time wagon trail is now a highway from one end of the state to another a portion between civilization is being repaved. A couple of miles at a time I oversee contractors grind away the top 6" or so, put back a sturdy layer then top it with a riding surface in absolutely amazing quick fashion these days. The other day I noticed a small church with a small cemetery and stopped in for a gander. From 100 yards I could see what appeared to be some older headstones.

It coincidently was the anniversay of D Day...
To my surprise out of the maybe 55 or 60 graves 33 were either WW1 or WW2 vets. Most survived decades after the wars, but I found a lump in my throat as I read each tombstone. I'm thinking here I am in this little spec on the map and find this tennis court sized cemetary and over 50% of the occupants either gave some or gave all for this great nation.


This little old church sure has some stories to tell


This is about half of the cemetary.
It is spackled with US government issue head stones.


Like this group here.
What an honor it must've been when it was over and these guys returned to their little church on Sunday....



She saw both wars to end all wars.

 

[stabhelsing]

Where is that place located?

 

[bykfixer]

Welcome to the site.

It's beautiful, wherever it is.


My work took me to a place where there is a bridge being built over top of a placed called "The Spanish flu cemetery" in Norfolk Va.

It's reported that in this little village once called Kempsville, that if the Depression didn't kill you the Spanish flu did.

Why not just move the graves? Well it's located in one of those places where land is sold by the square foot, where anything undeveloped is protected by very strict environmental laws that require special permits to dig for a shed footing and fill dirt for the road is being imported from 50 miles away. So moving the graves would mean the folks who helped build the village would be moved too far away to be remembered. So the locals voted to keep them where they are.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Wow, stuff like this always interests me, being in construction and all. It reminds me of this:

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/05/graves-on-airport-runways.html

I've always heard that there is some obscure law on the books where in order to move a grave the descendants have to agree and that's not always an easy task. Years and years ago my grandfather worked on the construction of the NJ Parkway. Through Orange and East Orange thousand of graves had to be moved as the route bisected a cemetery. You can still see this section when riding the Parkway today.

 

[RBR]

.....

 

[bykfixer]

Found myself at a cemetary I never knew existed not far from my home. It is in the middle of a Civil War battlefield park owned by the National Park Service. The unique thing was it is a Union cemetary smack dab in the middle of a Confederate strong hold during the war. It shows what honor was bestowed on participants to each other regardless of which side the paeticipant was.

It is now a cemetary for war vets and the majority of graves are WWI, WW2, Korean and Vietnam vets (and in some cases their spouse). One grave was a child who lived about 2 weeks.

The entrance way

Some of the head stones