A man honors veterans who died this Memorial Day weekend by volunteering to clean up a cemetery.
Ron Errickson Jr, 31, will spend much of his time at Pine Brook Cemetery in Tinton Falls, the final resting place for generations of local African Americans who could not be buried in local white cemeteries, which included many Civil War veterans. and the First World War.
“They were just rooted and buried in the dirt,” Errickson Jr. told News 12. “I mean they have roots growing out of them.
At Pine Brook, there are missing headstones, some of them because they couldn’t afford to buy headstones. Wooden crosses are in its place.
Errickson Jr. and a handful of assistants have spent the past few weekends cleaning up the place. The Jamesburg native and the volunteers cleared up to 12 inches of brush and leaves that had turned the place into a swampy mess.
“It’s always better to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission,” he added. “I don’t think anyone will handcuff me for cleaning up a veteran’s graveyard. This is the third cemetery he cleans. Neglected cemeteries irritate him, especially when veterans’ graves are present. It freaks me out. »
Volunteers who want to help Errickson Jr. can come to the cemetery on Saturday or Sunday at 10 a.m.
