Wreaths Across America Effort Returns To Belleville For 2022

BELLEVILLE, NJ — What do U.S. Marine Corp Private First Class Donald Saunders of Belleville, Marine Corp Private First Class Richard Bates of Nutley, Marine Corp Lance Corporal Paul Christmas of North Carolina, Marine Corps Lance Corporal Edwin Aponte of Puerto Rico, a dozen other U.S. Marines, 15 U.S. Army personnel, two U.S. Navy Seaman and U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Calvin Alexander of Virginia all have in common?

They were all killed in action in Vietnam, and they all rest side by side in the same one row "F" at Glendale Cemetery, according to the Belleville Historical Society, which will be commemorating their passing again for 2022.

Every year, the Belleville Historical Society’s Wreaths Across America project – which covers all of the town’s local cemeteries – includes a visit to the veteran section of Glendale Cemetery for a simple wreath laying ceremony of 15 wreaths. There, 15 young men from Belleville and Nutley who were killed in action during World War II and Vietnam rest.

“This year we had great support and 50 sponsors for wreaths at Glendale and we were unsure how and where to place them among the thousands of veterans interred there,” said Michael Perrone, president of the Belleville Historical Society.

“Most of the vets interred at Glendale survived the wars,” Perrone said. “Our hope was to locate young men who had made the ultimate sacrifice.”

According to Perrone:

“The vast majority of the military markers have long been blackened by time and the inscriptions are difficult if not impossible to read. The Belleville and Nutley boys all had their stones cleaned by our society a few years ago. We decided to clean the stones next to Donald Saunders and Richard Bates and were surprised to see that those two young men also lost their lives in Vietnam. We cleaned a few more stones and soon realized that the entire row of 35 servicemen were young men lost in Vietnam, three of whom were only 19-years-old. We decided to clean the entire row of military stones and place the appropriate service flag for each man. On December 17 we will return to set the 50 wreaths on our newly ‘adopted’ platoon. Our main ceremony is Saturday, December 17 at noon at St. Peter's Church cemetery, 155 William Street, Belleville, followed by Glendale Cemetery at 1:30 p.m.”

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