The Keeper of the Mound

Doug Graves (Copyright 2007)

As war memorials go they don’t come any more unassuming-- but this one gets some first class, loving care from a guy with a big heart.
The story of the humble memorial is the story of how, in 1945, the patriotic impulse of some boys and girls has been a bright thread woven into the fabric of the neighborhood’s history. This colorful tapestry has spanned generations, binding the community together with what Abraham Lincoln called, “the mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land . . .”
Charles Blatnik, 56, has been cutting the grass on the tiny wedge of property at the intersection of Willow Park Road and Freemansburg Avenue for 42 years. And he does it for free.
“I do it because nobody else does,” said Blatnik. “When I was a Cub Scout I used to come here on Memorial Day for ceremonies.”
“When I was about 14, I noticed that the grass at the memorial was about knee high,” said Blatnik. “I cut the grass and have been doing it ever since.”
The small park is across the street from Blatnik’s Bethlehem Township home.
The steel sign is getting rusty and the paint is starting to lift, but the letters are still perfectly legible. It is fitted into a stainless steel frame mounted on steel posts. It is shaded by two honey locust trees that host an ancient but vigorous poison ivy vine. A weathered three-by-four foot national ensign adorns the sign, its staff fastened to the rusting steel sign post. Smaller American flags flutter from sticks stuck in the ground amid red and white geraniums at the base of the memorial.
Geraniums also line the broad steps leading from the street up to the memorial. The steps were laid in about six years ago by James Wiedl as a community service project for his Eagle Scout badge according to Michael Faccinetto, Scout Master of Troop 347.
“I added some flowers,” said Blatnik. “I also put up the flags.”
According to Charlotte Rzepiela, a leader in the local Girl Scout organization, the memorial started out as a remembrance ceremony at Sacred Heart Catholic Church attended by scouts from Girl Scout Troop 44 and Boy Scout Troop 347. She was a Girl Scout in 1937. Shortly after the war ended there was a sign kept at the church with World War II veterans’ names on it. Eventually, under the leadership of Josephine Sakovics, since deceased, a memorial was erected on the current site and the sign was moved to the new location.
“That was done in the early fifties, probably ’52 or ’53,” she said.
“The Scouts then would have a little parade from the church down the street to the memorial site on Memorial Day [then called Decoration Day]”, she said. “A Girl Scout would recite Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and a Boy Scout would recite ‘In Flanders Fields’.”
Mary Vanya, director of the Girl Scout Service Unit, said, “My aunt, Ilona Romanell, read ‘Boys on the Honor Roll’ at the first memorial service in 1945.”
“Since the honor roll was first put up” said Rzepiela, “the Memorial Day programs have been sponsored by Girl Scout [now Cadette] Troop #44.”
“When it was first put up,” Rzepiela said, “it had the names of all of the people who served in World War II. But the sign was hit by cars three times so the last time we put it up we left the names off and just had the dedication painted on it. That was 55 years ago.”
“We call it ‘the mound’,” said Rzepiela. “We call Charlie the ‘Keeper of the Mound.”
“On the Sunday before or after Memorial Day the Scouts from Sacred Heart Catholic Church do a parade here, and Father King says a prayer,” said Blatnik. “I have a sound system I set up for the occasion.”
Recently Blatnik had surgery on his shoulder and has not been able to mow the grass. He said Bethlehem Township personnel have volunteered to help until he is feeling better.