Schill provides his thoughts on Memorial Field.
Moorestown residents have been raising numerous concerns over plans to develop Memorial Field. Citizens who live near Memorial Field are justifiably concerned about how new lighting and increased use will impact their lives at home. Anyone who has traveled on nearby Church Street during rush hour already understands how congested that road is, let alone the potential impact on traffic the proposed “improvements” will have on that thoroughfare.
But there is one issue that should trouble all of us and that is the total lack of transparency by our town council in notifying our residents and our veterans of the potential destruction of a very special memorial to four Moorestown residents who sacrificed their lives for our country. The four baseball fields at Memorial Field are dedicated to George S. Yohnson, Howard H. Mayer, Roger A. Ross and W. Phillip Seel, Jr. — all Moorestown High School graduates who played baseball on those very fields before joining the military and deploying to Vietnam. All four were killed in action between 1966 and 1969. More than 40 years after they died, Moorestown dedicated those baseball fields to their memory. Each field has a memorial stone behind the batter’s cage that describes the service and sacrifice of each man. Now, only eight years later, the town council majority is considering converting those baseball fields to soccer fields.
What makes these memorials special is not just the static markers that commemorate the service and sacrifice of these men. These fields are also a tribute to who they were as Moorestown residents and athletes, a dynamic memorial that supports thousands of Moorestown children to play the sport they loved. At the Sept. 10 town council meeting, one veteran poignantly reminded councilmembers that Memorial Field is more than just a sports complex — it is a place of healing for veterans. Mr. Seel’s sister gave an emotional testimony as to how much her brother loved playing baseball at Memorial Field, and how much it meant to her family to have this memorial to her brother in town.
As a veteran, I support those who feel converting the baseball fields into soccer fields undermines the meaning and honor that the memorial was intended to convey. Making a decision of such lasting impact should have started with very public announcements and communications with the town’s veterans. We stand with the veterans, family members and residents who urged the council majority not to forget the sacrifice these men made and to preserve this very special memorial that honors not just their deaths, but their lives in Moorestown as well.
Dave Schill
