You may have noticed when driving on Valley Road this week, that the island at Edgemont Memorial Park is getting a nice new look, just in time for the Memorial Day Service. The massive overgrown shrubs at the base of the monument are gone, revealing a famous bronze sculpture "The Billboys" by Charles Keck. When we walked over to inspect, we met up with the work crew and Superintendent of Parks, Kevin Ward. Ward is a wealth of information and he gave us the low-down. "The old green light cages are gone, new high wattage lights have been installed to illuminate the monument from all sides. We're trying to reestablish the memorial garden to its original 1924 scale - we've restored three raised formal beds in the original shape, put in about 30 small perennial and flowering shrubs - varieties that will remain three to four feet high, eliminating the overgrowth problem we just tackled," Ward said..."and it's long overdue."
And beginning Memorial Day, you'll be able to walk on the island and see the improvements up close. Gates that have been chained shut on and off for years due to vandalism and safety issues will be open daily.
The primary monument is an obelisk with a Winged Victory on top - it commemorates the soldiers from Montclair who died in World War I and II. There is a second monument in front of the statue, for the Montclair soldiers who died in the Korean War. Until this week, it was completely obscured . The town parks department has been working all week to make the island safer, user friendly, and beautiful. "There's a lot of pride going into this project. It's not a subcontracted job - it's all been done by town personnel. It's going to look pretty spectacular when it's done. " he added.
It's about time! It's a great sculpture. Look at the determination in the eyes of the soldiers in the sculpture and reflect on the defeatism of our current age.