Moorestown’s Little League ballfields at Memorial Field will be rededicated on April 9 to four Vietnam soldiers who died in the line of duty.
The lower baseball fields were dedicated to township natives Howard Mayer, George S. Yohnnson, Roger A. Ross and Phillip Seel Jr. several years ago, but residents wanted to update each memorial stone in 2019.
Director of the Moorestown Department of Parks and Recreation Theresa Miller reached out to former Mayor Lisa Petriello to resume the project after a COVID pause.
“My thinking was that it was the least we could do to honor these young guys and their sacrifice,” Petriello said. “And I thought also at the same time we’re preserving an enduring part of our town where kids and families still come to play and spend time together.”
Jack Hall, also a Vietnam veteran, attended Moorestown High School with the four men honored, and shared the history of the ballfields with Petriello when he met her prior to 2019.
“These guys and their peers grew up in Moorestown, they played on these fields, they played baseball on these fields,” she explained. “This is where the guys played baseball in high school. This was the high-school fields at the time, and it was also the only park in town all the way back then.”
“Even today, veterans gather there, still weekly, to be with one another,” Petriello added. “It’s a place of healing for them.”
Beyond honoring the lost soldiers, the fields are where kids learn to play baseball.
“I’ve come to see them as a living memorial, and I think we’re really fortunate to have that in Moorestown,” the former mayor said. “These baseball fields, in my mind, they’ve become a living memorial.”
“ … It’s a place full of life, where countless numbers of kids have learned to play ball.”
Fundraising efforts helped make the memorial possible and donors included William H. Synder Post 42 American Legion, the Moorestown Business Association, the Moorestown Soccer Club, the Moorestown Youth Baseball Federation, the Historical Society of Moorestown and others.
“It’s become a real community effort, because I think it touches so many people in so many different ways that we all want to be part of making this space even more special,” Petriello said.
Recreation Advisory Committee member Lenny Wagner explained how the rededication ceremony will coincide with Little League opening day.
“You (have) all the kids with their uniforms on and everything, and then we have them listen to people talk about who these men were and what the big deal is and why they need to be respectful of it,” Wagner explained.
“What impact … the sacrifice those people made on their own lives.”
For Hall, Memorial Field will always be special.
“It’s a place where all four of these guys and most of us older Moorestonians played both football and baseball down there,” he acknowledged, “and to have that portion of Memorial Field set aside in memory of (them) – it’s very heartwarming.”
For more information on Mayer, Yohnnson, Ross and Seel, visit moorestown.nj.us.
