And every year, Stiefel, a retired florist who received the Bronze Star, has a personal Memorial Day service in the park, which is adjacent to Veterans Memorial Middle School on North 27th Street.
After he meditates, he leaves a homemade wreath at each memorial.
In recent years, his efforts have become almost a crusade to make sure the memorials are cared for and that someone remembers what they mean.
In years past, Stiefel has had acquaintances clean off the graffiti that covers the World War II stone, but a few days later it is back, he said. He
plans to have it cleaned off again anyway.
"I've been taking care of this monument for, oh, ever since it was put there," he said.
The monument was dedicated in 1945.
Yesterday, Stiefel placed a wreath of red carnations and white and blue- dyed chrysanthemums over the graffiti on the white memorial. The World War I monument is made of dark stone and is not defaced, but bronze markers dedicated to the dead soldiers have been chiseled off.
Stiefel said he and his Veterans of Foreign Wars post once cared for the monuments, but five years ago, the group lost its charter and disbanded
because of dwindling membership.
The men, many afraid to venture into Camden neighborhoods at night for meetings, moved to other towns. The city owns the property and promised to care for it after the group disbanded, Stiefel said, but the grass, the brush and the trash grew higher: "When I came here last Sunday, I was shocked," he said. He came back last week and chopped down tall shrubs and cleared some of the brush.
For many years after World War II, he said, parades and other events marked each Memorial Day in the city. But the fanfare stopped, though he does not know exactly when or why. He said it is indicative, though, of how America often treats its veterans.
