JACKSON – A representative of the Ocean County Board of Freeholders has presented a World War I service flag to the Jackson Township Council.
Nick Wood, curator from the Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission, presented the Great War service flag to Jackson officials on behalf of the freeholders during the council’s Oct. 22 meeting.
“We are here to bestow this service flag on Jackson in honor of the World War I veterans who served our country. Here in Jackson you had 52 soldiers who served, that we are aware of, and two paid the ultimate sacrifice in that great conflict,” Wood said.
Mayor Mike Reina said the fallen soldiers from Jackson were Walter Grover and Ernest Preston. Reina said Grover served in the Army and his unit was in France. Preston was National Army and did not die in battle.
Wood said Freeholder John C. Bartlett was fascinated with an institution called Lakewood General Hospital No. 9, which was not far from Jackson. The facility served 5,500 convalescing soldiers during the war, he said.
“We did some digging and found out there were four major military installations in Ocean County during the war. The general hospital being one, the Lakehurst Proving Grounds, Camp Dix (now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst) and the Tuckerton Wireless Tower in Tuckerton. In Jackson, you are kind of the epicenter with three major military installations with troops coming and going in this area,” Wood said.
Councilman Barry Calogero thanked the freeholders for sharing the history of the 52 Jackson residents who served in World War I.
Councilman Scott Martin said he did not know there were that many Jackson residents who fought in World War I and said the presentation was educational.
Council Vice President Rob Nixon said, “It is easy to look at World War I, for example, as something that is just history, but there were people who were walking the same plots of Earth we are walking now … who decided they were going to fight for our freedoms and we should not forget that.”
Council President Ken Bressi said 1.2 million individuals “gave the supreme sacrifice for the freedoms you have today. … (those individuals) gave their lives not knowing any of you in this room, for the freedoms you have today, and our armed forces are still out there doing it today.”
Reina said, “I never served in the military and that it is one of the reasons I am as dedicated as I am to those who have. We all owe, especially those of us who did not serve, the utmost respect and gratitude and support.”
The mayor said speaking with veterans is a humbling experience, “especially when you look in their eyes and they tell you stories that date back from World War II. … There are men in this room tonight, including (Bressi), who are Vietnam War veterans. So my respect is with you all, the men and women of the United States military.”