BY STEVE KELMAN
CORRESPONDENT
CRESSKILL, N.J. –– A large number of Bergen County residents gathered last week on what was an Indian summer Sunday afternoon to commemorate the centennial of Camp Merritt in Cresskill.
During the First World War approximately one million troops were sent to the western front in Europe from this camp, which was in operation from1917 until 1920.
The site consisted of 770 acres, included a hospital and over a thousand buildings, and was located in the boroughs of Cresskill, Tenafly, Demarest, Dumont, Bergenfield and Haworth.
During the 1918 influenza epidemic, 578 people died while at the camp (558 enlisted men, four nurses and one civilian). Their names are inscribed on the 66-foot memorial that is situated at the traffic circle on Knickerbocker Road and Madison Avenue.
“This monument stands in memorial of the 578 soldiers and staff that died during the flu epidemic,” Bergen County Chief Executive James Tedesco told the assemblage.
“We commemorate this site not just because of its importance to Bergen County and the State of New Jersey,” said Tedesco. “The camp played a significant role American and world history.”
Along Madison Avenue four storyboard panels, recently installed, tell the story of Camp Merritt.
As the ceremony got underway the Waldwick Band played “music that the doughboys knew and sang” including such classics as “Over There” and “It’s a Grand Old Flag.”
Girl Scouts from Dumont Troop 95501 handed out memorial poppies that they made to the assemblage and the Color Guard of the U.S. Military Academy posted the colors.
The National Anthem was performed by the Cresskill High School Vocal Ensemble and flags were raised by American Legion Post #21 and other military veterans.
Elected officials attending consisted of several area mayors, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and members of the New Jersey State Assembly and the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Attending mayors included Raymond Cywinski of Demarest, Peter Rustin of Tenafly, John Glidden of Closter, Ann Subrizi of New Milford, John Smart of Haworth, Jim Kelly of Dumont and Norman Schmelz of Bergenfield.
New Jersey State legislators attending included state Sen. Gerald Cardinale, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg and state Assemblymembers Gordon Johnson, Robert Auth and Holly Schepisi.
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell of the 37th District and Dr. Joan Voss, chairwoman pro tempore of the Bergen County Freeholders, also attended.
“This is a great day not only for Cresskill, but for the entire area,” Pascrell said. “We get to honor and respect the one million soldiers who were stationed here on the way to the battlefield in Europe.”
The keynote speaker for the event was Lt. Col Sherman L. Fleek, command historian for the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Fleek told the assemblage that the day was special to him in part because General Wesley Merritt, the Civil War officer for whom the fort was named, is his great, great uncle.
After providing background on Merritt, Fleek told the crowd that community gatherings that commemorate history “are so important.”
“This is where the rubber hits the road at the local level where the citizens of a republic come together to remember events from the past,” he said.
Merritt, the camp’s namesake, was a general in the Union Army who was a cavalry commander at Gettysburg along with General George Armstrong Custer. After the war he commanded the 9th Cavalry, an African American regiment better known as the Buffalo Soldiers.
He later became superintendent of West Point, where, according to Fleek, he taught and mentored future World War I Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing.
On Memorial Day 1924 Pershing came to Cresskill and dedicated the Camp Merritt Memorial.
Author Howard Bartholf, who recently wrote a book about the camp titled “Images of America, Camp Merritt,” addressed the assemblage at the event and also spoke and presented a slide show with historical photographs of the camp at a reception which was held afterwards at the Camp Merritt American Legion Post 21.
Bartholf said that his father was born in a house in Bergenfield that was once part of the camp. He also told the gathering that he first visited the memorial in 1951 as a 5-year-old child.
“My coming back here has been long overdue,” he said. “Camp Merritt is as sacred a place as Valley Forge… although no battles were fought here, more than 500 people died here due to the flu and various accidents between 1917 and 1920.”
Cynthia Forester, director of the Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs, said that it took a lot of effort to put this event together.
Serving as the emcee, Forester thanked the various groups that worked together to make it happen including the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, the Cresskill Police Department, the Dumont Girl Scouts, the Cresskill High School Vocal Ensemble, the Camp Merritt American Legion Post 21, the Color Guard of the United States Military Academy, “and all of our veterans, past and present.”
Photo by Steve Kelman