Fallen servicemembers honored during Memorial Day ceremony at historic Camden County cemetery
PHILADELPHIA - Gold star families gathered on for a special Memorial Day ceremony at a New Jersey cemetery founded by one of the state's most influential civil rights activists.
Jacqueline Dixon was among the families that accepted flowers during the Monday ceremony. Her son, Anthony, was 20-years-old when he was killed while serving in Iraq.
"I'll still be grieving, but it gets better as the years go on and as people continue to honor him," said Jacqueline, who credits her faith in God for helping her find comfort.
The Dempsey Butler Cemetery, where the Memorial Day ceremony was held, has been the final resting place for military veterans dating back to the Civil War.
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"Butler Cemetery is one of Camden's most important African-American sites established in the 1900s by Dempsey Daniel Butler," Chaplain Lt. Col. Floyd White said.
James Hardcastle, who served in the Army during the Civil War as a member of an influential African-American regiment, is buried at the Butler Cemetery.
"Hardcastle became an infantry in the newly formed 25th regiment , a unit that literally became the posterchild for the nation's newly organized black troop regiment," Lt. Col. Floyd White said.
Butler himself, as well as 200 other Camden, are also buried at the cemetery.