Monument Details

View of the monument looking southeast. circa 1950

Engraving on the South Face

IN MEMORY OF THOSE SOLDERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY WHILE ON DUTY IN CAMP MERRITT. THIS MONUMENT MARKS THE CENTER OF THE CAMP AND FACES THE HIGHWAY OVER WHICH MORE THAN A MILLION AMERICAN SOLDERS PASSED ON THEIR WAY TO AND FROM THE WORLD WAR 1917 - 1919.

The Merritt Dispatch was a news magazine published weekly on Fridays. Captain Charles Barber was the editor and publisher of this popular publication. Mr. Howard W. Rose, a noted historian of Bergen County and Camp Merritt who lives in New Milford, New Jersey, and author of the book "Camp Merritt", provided Matt Moles with the opportunity to excerpt passages from personnel letters received from Mr. Barber. One of particular interest was dated October 2, 1974, part of which follows.

The Merritt Dispatch was completely my own 'brainchild'. Having been graduated from Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan Class of 1917 (in absentia), and projecting a career in the magazine and journalistic fields when I returned to civilian life, it came to me as a natural activity that I should fill the void of not having a camp newspaper by organizing and bringing this publication to life ...
... Sometime during the spring of 1919, (first issue printed January 28, 1919) when it was apparent that we (the news magazine), members of the staff and I were sitting in our editorial office drumming up ideas for the magazine when the subject of camp memorial was mentioned. Instantly, this became an absorbing interest as something we could 'sink our teeth in' and promote as a magazine project. I remember taking a piece of newsprint and outlining a form the monument should take, obviously at the time thinking only of the Washington Monument in the nation's capitol. This was given to the staff cartoonist - artist (Pvt. Lou Morgan) who further elaborated upon the design and eventually made the drawing which appeared as a full page in the beginning of the magazine's special Monument Memorial issue of May 30, 1919.
In conceiving and promoting the project it was never thought that what we pictured as a memorial would become the basis for the actual design .... And while discussing the idea it became obvious that we should also suggest a location. This we did and what could be more appropriate a spot that the crossroads of the camp, Knickerbocker and Madison Avenue.

From that time on the staff was enthusiastically dedicated to the idea and in finding ways and means we could raise money to get the project going. It was for this reason we launched a special issue of the magazine which came out Memorial Day, May 30, 1919. This issue was enlarged to over 100 pages due to the increased amount of editorial material we wished to use, as well as the generous support of firms in New York City who were willing contributors to advertising space when solicited by our salesmen.

From this memorial issue of the magazine after all printing costs and other expenses were met, we had a sum of several thousands of dollars to establish our contribution to the project. Also, as information about the memorial became generally known several individuals gave us voluntary contributions, the first being the sum of $500.00 from Mr. E. Stanley Clarke, then mayor of Tenafly.

The formal dedication took place on May 30, 1924 in the presence of National and State officials with General John J. Pershing, General of the Armies delivering the dedication address.

The monument, sculpted by Captain Robert Aitken, is a 65 foot granite shaft, plain except for the inscriptions of those people who gave their lives while on duty at Camp Merritt. It also features an emblematic soldier figure on one of the lowermost blocks.

On the day of the formal dedication an estimated 20,000 people jammed the grounds around the $75,000 granite monument. Hundreds more watched from distant trees and from the roofs of cars. A newspaper reporter wrote of the day: "No serious mishaps occurred although there was never more traffic in this part of the Country."

Memorial Day, May 30,1924 ... Dedication Day

On the day of the monuments dedication, May 30, 1924, people began to assembly early in the morning and long before the officials arrived the fields about the huge monument were filled. Delegations of school children, Camp F Girls, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were lined along Knickerbocker Road and formed a guard of honor through which the official party passed.
General Pershing's trip from Manhattan through Bergen County to Camp Merritt was almost a continuous ovation. Escorted by six motorcycle policemen, he crossed on the Fort Lee ferry in a closed automobile. He was recognized and cheered by the throngs of holiday seekers who were leaving the city. At Fort Lee, Englewood and Tenafly there were other demonstrations

General Pershing and his staff, on reaching the south entrance to the camp, was greeted with a salvo of salutes by Battery A, 112th Field Artillery, National Guard of East Orange, and Cavalry Band, Newark; Company F, 104th Engineers, Englewood, a detachment and color guard the 107th Infantry - the old Seventh - New York City and an escort of motorcycle policemen from various municipalities.

As the General's motor car approached the granite monument in the little stone-flagged plaza at Camp Merritt, Troop B of the 102d Cavalry, New Jersey National Guard, of Newark, swung into line and formed an escort to the platform near the monument. Instantly the crowds closed in and cheered the General.

Upon the arrival of General Pershing and his party, the children, massed in a body, sang "The Star - Spangled Banner," and the crowd joined in. The singing was conducted by Mr. John H. Boolean of Hackensack.

The following is from the Merritt Memorial School Messenger
Page 3   Vol. 64/65    Winter   #2

And so, in Cresskill, New Jersey, on a beautiful Memorial Day, in 1924, General John J. Pershing was seated on a folding chair at the base of a monument on Knickerbocker Road. On the speaker's platform, the Master of Ceremonies related to the huge crowd all the pleasantries and niceties of protocol which are a necessity at ceremonies of this type. In a few moments his droning ceased and he introduced the main speaker.

The ramrod General of the Armies stood, braced himself against the lectern and cleared his throat. The crowd of 20,000 let loose a deafening roar, and the hundreds sitting in trees and on the roofs of cars went berserk. In fact, some say that the 65 foot granite shaft seemed to sway in salute to the great "Black Jack". It was a day to remember.
Pershing's speech was short, but it was meaningful. He was here to pay honor to a war time memory, a camp which felt the tramp of the cadence of a million men going to, and returning from the war in Europe.

The loudspeaker carried his booming voice out over the crowd to every corner as he chided the people for lack of preparedness, "men were rushed into war through Merritt's Gates who had not even the rudiments of adequate training --- shame upon us ...
There were many tears on many cheeks and many were the women whose hearts ached because of his words and because of lost loved ones --- and many were buoyed by this man who spoke, who not only suffered the trials of war but also suffered a great personal tragedy some years before, when his wife and three daughters were burned to death in a fire at the Presidio in San Francisco.

And so the man of the hour paid tribute to a country generally, and to a 1,000,000 men specifically. It is said that General Pershing enjoyed this dedication ceremony more than anyone present, because in honoring the memory of Camp Merritt, he also honored the name of General Wesley Merritt, who in 1886 as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy presented 2nd Lieutenant bars to a cadet graduate, named John J. Pershing.

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In Memoriam

Of the 563 men and women that died at Camp Merritt due to the flu epidemic of 1918 a few are listed here in the hope that the memory of all will not be lost as the years roll by.