The grave of Private Bertram Joseph Venables, a WWI British soldier
BELLEVILLE, NJ — On Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the Belleville Historical Society incorporated a new organization that is specifically dedicated to the cleaning and restoration of military and veteran memorials.
During the past seven years, the group has cleaned and restored more than 50 memorials throughout north Jersey, ranging in size from modest stone markers, to elaborate bronze plaques to life-sized statues. All the work is done free of charge.
Recently while doing Armistice Day/Great War research, society members discovered that one WWI British soldier was buried in New Jersey. Private Bertram Joseph Venables was a Royal Marine Light Infantryman stationed aboard the British battleship Dominion. He developed pneumonia and was shipped to New York for medical care, where he died on April 4, 1918. Society members located his grave at Flower Hill Cemetery in North Bergen, where they had done much previous work. They cleaned his stone and set United Kingdom and American flags there, also placing a wreath there on Nov. 11.
“It is the least we can do for a young man buried 3,000 miles from home,” society President Michael Perrone said. “We hope to use our new organization to raise money for repairs of the church steeple at the old Belleville Dutch Reformed Church.”
Photos Courtesy of Michael Perrone
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