On the North River

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Name: Edmond J Harvey (unknown – Jan. 14, 1945)

Several years ago, after receiving this email, I set out to photograph this man’s resting place. Shortly afterwards I sent this email back.

“I’ve just received the location information about this grave.
Returning veterans bodies whose families could not afford a grave-site were buried in the veterans section (2). Within the cemetery that is between Immaculate Conception Ave. and St. Francis Ave., beyond that there was no record of the row or plot as the men were buried as they came back. “

Section two was about two acres, I came to find that the majority of the WWII graves had only a flat, 12″x5″ rectangular stone marker with Name, Date and Unit. I walked every inch of that section, but I never found “Edmond J Harvey”. I did find a number of stone markers after going to unmarked areas when the spacing should have had a grave and dug around under the sod until I found  the buried markers. By rain and snow and growing grass did disappear the markers of forgotten men, those whose families had moved away or never thought to maintain their resting place.

The next Memorial Day (aka Decoration Day), overcast and rainy, I rather self-consciously walked to the middle of the field in an area without visible markers or headstones, and placed a small batch of flowers alone on the wet ground. Edmond J Harvey is there, somewhere, and on each Memorial Day since as I go by that place I think about him and whisper a short prayer. For all the forgotten men.