1947 A Father’s Hope Creates the Veterans’ Cemetery

Before 1947 Fairfield had no special burial section devoted to the American military. One father, Roy Rountree, envisioned a special veterans’ section within Maple Hill Cemetery in 1947. His son, Benjamin, was killed in the Pacific Theatre in WWII and Roy became painfully aware of the need for a veteran’s area within the town cemetery. He commented; “we need a memorial plot for our soldiers and sailors who have paid the supreme sacrifice.”

In June, 1947 a new addition was marked off, to be part of Maple Hill Cemetery. The land, purchased by the City for $17,000, joined the original cemetery’s south and east boundaries. The area added an additional 3,000 new burial lots, each holding four graves, and a dedicated veteran’s area. The 12,000 plots were intended to cover the community’s foreseeable needs.

When Roy Rountree’s idea was presented, the Fairfield City Council voted to give the local veterans’ organizations “any amount of ground needed…without cost” for a veterans’ cemetery in the new addition. The local Veterans organizations banded together to create a 400 foot-by-200 foot veterans area on the southeast edge of the addition. Mr. Rountree’s son was the first memorial. The veterans’ groups worked to have the memorial section ready for additional casualties of that cruel war.

The rule was that “any Wayne County veteran of any war could be buried in the section at no charge for the plot. Ben Eckleberry made the concrete crosses, each with the name of a local soldier killed in World War I and World War II.

The first soldier’s body was returned for burial in mid-November, 1947. Fifty-nine were added in the next fifteen years. Of those, half had died overseas. Memorials continue to be added as necessary.

These days, volunteers from the VFW Auxiliary, under the leadership of Bob Clutter, put out the large flags encircling the Veterans’ Cemetery. This is done on Memorial Day, Veterans' Day, and Flag Day. Cindy Grimes is in charge of putting the small American flags on each individual veteran’s grave marker in all the cemeteries in the county.

Judith Puckett / First cemetery tour research 2019 DGS 5/2022