Cranbury parade, services mark the day
By: Jessica Beym
After Carl Liedtke, a Cranbury resident and World War II Army veteran, returned from the South Pacific in 1945, he took on the duty of commemorating soldiers who had fought and died during war.
Walking through Brainerd and Westminster cemeteries, Mr. Liedtke and Gerald Danser, who has since died, would place fresh flags on the soldiers’ graves every Memorial Day.
"We had to have a map of the graveyard," Mr. Liedtke said Thursday. "I don’t know how many flags we put on, but we had a whole mess of them, from the Civil War right on up to today. All we did was a service to the servicemen. That’s how I saw it."
But with over 380 gravestones for soldiers, the task became too much for just one man. For about the past 10 years, the local Cub Scout Pack has been responsible for the duty.
Every year, David Szabo, whose sons were former Cub Scouts, helps to organize the event and picks up the small flags from the Department of Veterans Internment in Sayreville. The Scouts will meet Mr. Szabo in Brainerd Cemetery behind the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury at 8 a.m. Saturday.
s "I just started reminding them what Memorial Day is all about," Mr. Szabo said Wednesday. "It’s not just about a parade. We’re doing it for the people who have fought for the country remembering and honoring them."
The Scouts break intro groups and traverse the cemetery, removing old flags from the graves and replacing them with fresh ones. Later Saturday, the Scouts will be camping on the nearby West property and the old flags will be burned during a memorial ceremony.
"There’s a lot of history in that cemetery," Mr. Szabo said. "As they place the flags, I tell them not to rush through and just take a moment to read the headstone, what war they fought in, family members, when they lived."
Even though he was not a war veteran, Todd Beamer, who died aboard United Airlines flight 93 when it crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001 and is buried in Brainerd Cemetery, will also be memorialized for his bravery, Mr. Szabo said.
"It’s a nice service event," Mr. Szabo said. "Just to take a step back and look at all the flags when we’re done. It’s quite a sight."
But the memorial services honoring soldiers will not stop there. Before the annual Cranbury Lions Club Memorial Day Parade scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m., the New Jersey Civil War History Association will hold a memorial service at the Civil War Soldiers Monument in Brainerd Cemetery.
The 11 a.m. service will be a wreath-laying ceremony in which the re-enactor group will pay tribute to Company H, 14th Regiment which was comprised of men from Cranbury and surrounding areas.
Later, the re-enactors, dressed in period garb, will make an appearance in the parade. The parade, which begins at the corner of South Main Street and Station Road, will feature local veterans, a bagpipe and percussion band, a patriotic polka band, a marching band, various floats from community organizations, antique cars and decorated bikes.
The parade will head north on Main Street, loop around Plainsboro Road onto Maplewood Avenue, then back onto North Main Street, ending at Memorial Park across from Brainerd Lake.
Township police said the following roads will be closed during the parade: beginning at 12:30 p.m., South Main Street between Station and Old Trenton roads, Cranbury Neck Road between South Main Street and Wynnewood Drive, and Symmes Court; and beginning at 12:50 p.m., North Main Street, Plainsboro Road, Maplewood Avenue, Park Place East and West, Westminster Place, Scott Avenue and Schoolhouse Lane will be closed in their entirety. Police recommend using Dey Road or Old Trenton Road to avoid the parade route.
The parade should last about an hour, Mr. Wood said, and afterward, there will be a short ceremony at Memorial Park, during which members of the Township Committee will speak and the local Scout band will perform. The winner of the Best Bike Contest, the winner of the Best Parade Float Contest and the winner of the Lions 50/50 Raffle will also be announced.
Cranbury Lion Bob Wood, who helped organize the parade, said the event attracts not just the entire community of Cranbury, but families from surroundings towns as well.
"It’s one of the larger parades around here," Mr. Wood said. "We do have a very diverse group of people that march in it. Main Street is always lined with spectators."
Mr. Wood said he hopes the day will remind people of the various veterans that served the country.
"I hope it brings to the forefront of their minds that the veterans gave up their time and in some cases, their lives, to make sure we have the free society that we have now. That’s what it is a memorial day."

