PARK RIDGE, N.J.—American Legion Cpl. Jedh C. Barker Memorial Post 153 invites the community to help celebrate its 100th anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 29.
A ceremony at 1 p.m. at its headquarters, 118 Ridge Ave., kicks off the day’s events. Rep. Josh Gottheimer said he would be there. An open house runs to 5 p.m.
According to past commander and Centennial Chairman Dick Bozzone, the post was chartered Sept. 29, 1919 as the Pascack Valley Memorial Post 153 American Legion. Founding members received the charter from national headquarters in Indianapolis.
“This charter was received after returning doughboys from the Great War, later referred to as World War I, with Navy and Marine veterans gathered to incorporate their centennial post,” Bozzone told Pascack Press last week.
He said the American Legion, chartered the same year, has become the largest veterans unit in the world, now boasting more than two and a half million members.
At the open house, in the upstairs hall, photos, artifacts, and other materials related to the history of the post will be displayed. Light refreshments will be available, and guests are encouraged to stop in.
The ceremony is as follows: Commander Joseph Collery is emcee. A bugler will render a call to assemble. A U.S. Marine Corps color guard from Post 153 will lead participants to the front of the building.
There, the Rev. Raymond Boyd, pastor of Park Ridge Methodist Church, will deliver the invocation.
Anne Whitney, president of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 153, will lead all in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Police Pipes and Drums of Bergen County will play a medley of military songs.
Professional soloist Lori Fredrics will sing George M. Cohan’s “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and Patrick Gilmore’s Civil War song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”
In 2017, a memorial ceremony for USMC Medal of Honor recipient Jedh Colby Barker, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his supreme sacrifice, was held at Post 153.
According to Bob Kelly on Legiontown, while engaged in a massive firefight as part of Operation Kingfisher, Barker was killed on Sept. 21, 1967, southeast of Con Thien near Phu Oc and the DMZ in South Vietnam, throwing his wounded body on a grenade and protecting his fellow Marines.
Barker was born in Franklin, N.H., in 1945. His father, Colby, served in the Marine Corps during World War II. “Jedh” is a combination of the first initials of his father’s Marine buddies: John, Ezekiel, Donald and Herbert.
Barker’s family moved to Park Ridge when he was 6. During his years at Park Ridge High School he distinguished himself in team sports including football and baseball, serving as co-captain of the former his senior year.
Kelly said, “In retrospect, his ability to lead and at the same time be cognizant of the team dynamic so essential to success demonstrated the qualities he would later apply to his Marine service.”
After two years of college, Barker enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in June 1966. In October, he was discharged from the Reserve to enlist on active duty.
President Richard M. Nixon awarded Barker a posthumous Medal of Honor in 1969. The Nixons later would move to Park Ridge, to the Bear’s Nest neighborhood, and the former president spent the final four years of his life here.
“That Cpl. Barker chose to be a Marine while protests against the war were being staged across the country, and many young men fled the country rather than face the draft, speaks to his personal character and the sense of duty,” Kelly said.
In the months after his death, the then-Pascack Valley American Legion Post 153 in Park Ridge resolved to rename the post in his honor and memory and it has been the Jedh C. Barker Memorial American Legion Post 153 ever since.
His name is engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Panel 26E, Line 99 and on the date of his death, Sept. 21, 1967, on the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel.
In 1976, the Marine Corps named a new building in his honor. Barker Hall is located at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
A bronze plaque dedicated to Barker’s service and supreme sacrifice is at Veterans Park.
As part of Post 153’s centennial celebration, a photo collection featuring the dedication of Barker Hall will be presented to a family member.
Officers from the post, auxiliary unit, and SAL, with Mayor Keith Misciagna, will present memorial wreaths at the monument. Misciagna will read the names of the 26 Park Ridge men who have given their lives in World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Following rifle volleys by the color guard, “Taps” will be rendered.