Honoring the fallen: Cranbury parade, services mark the day

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Cranbury parade, services mark the day

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.

"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."

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