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12th
Oct 2016

New Fireman’s Memorial - October 2016

 

Veteran’s Park

by Chris Lundy

Sponsors are needed for the volunteer firefighter monument in Veterans Park, being created to honor all those who risked their lives for the safety of residents in Berkeley Township.

Dreamed up more than ten years ago, ground was recently broken for the monument. It is being constructed in Veterans’ Park.
 

The main statue, of a firefighter kneeling, still needs to be constructed. It is expected to cost between $25,000 and $35,000, said Patrick Piccoli, chair of the Berkeley Township Volunteer Firefighters Memorial Fund and former chief of the Manitou Park Volunteer Fire Company.
 

There are also flagpoles, benches, and other stone monuments. The fund is currently seeking corporate or private sponsors to help pay for these.
 

On a smaller scale, there are also pavers throughout the ground that can be purchased. They serve a decorative function as well as a fundraising one. Sponsors can have their name and message carved out on them.
 

There are 1,800 pavers in total. So far, about 50 of them have been purchased. The can be purchased online at www.BTVFM.org.
 

Suffolk Industries donated the concrete and Berkeley’s parks department installed it. LJH Landscaping and Lawn Care in Toms River, but the company installed them for free,
 

“When you see the brick work, for him to donate the labor, it’s amazing,” Piccoli said.
 

It is being constructed to remember and honor all of the firefighters from the three volunteer companies in Berkeley: Bayville, Manitou Park, and Pinewald Pioneer. There is also a bronze firefighter helmet and coat. This helmet is marked with the number of Eugene Furey, who died in a car crash en route to a fire call in 1988.
 

“Anyone else we lose would get the same thing, but I hope we never have to,” Piccoli added.
The monument will be built in Veterans Park. “Gone but will never be forgotten” will be inscribed on the stone ground, beneath the firefighters emblem.