News

Ceremony for unknown soldier

April 27, 2008

Crossing boundaries

Tribute for Confederate soldier held in Wyoming

RALPH NARDONE Times Leader Correspondent

WYOMING – Shortly after the historic battle of Gettysburg, Confederate prisoners of war were marched through Northeast Pennsylvania to an internment camp located in Syracuse, N.Y. One Confederate soldier died somewhere between Forty Fort and Wyoming. He ended up buried in the Cemetery of Wyoming.

On Saturday, this unknown soldier was honored with a 21-gun salute, patriotic songs, a deposit of Southern soil, and a new headstone. Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 396 saluted the grave adorned with the Confederate flag.

Gerald Stofko, chairman of the unknown soldiers committee for the VFW, said the ceremony was being conducted on the same day as similar ceremonies in Georgia and Florida commemorating Union soldiers buried there.

“He was an American soldier fighting for what he believed in,” Stofko said.

Guest speaker Mike Lewis, news anchor from WNEP-TV, spoke to the group as a native Virginian and Southerner.

“This says a lot about y’all,” Lewis said.

“Only those who fought on foreign soil can really relate to what this soldier felt,” Lewis said. “This was foreign soil (to Southerners), and in some cases it still is,” he added.

Honoring the soldier “speaks volumes” about the good nature of the local people, he said.

Stephen Nalewajko, Wyoming Borough Council member and VFW member who spearheaded the commemoration from the beginning, said the man buried there was someone’s son and father. He was granted burial in Wyoming’s cemetery after being refused by others.

Stofko said the VFW raised $1,250 in donations from the local community, and mortician Joseph Kopzak donated the headstone.

Dr. Gene Turchetti, president of the cemetery association of Wyoming, with graves dating back to the 1830s, said the VFW’s efforts are inspiring. Even though the soldier was fighting for the South, he was still an American soldier. Turchetti added the cemetery association has a long working relationship with the VFW and gladly takes part in its endeavors.

Wyoming Mayor Robert Boyer read the “Poem for Confederate Memorial Day” as the new headstone was unveiled.

Members of the Sons of Veterans Reserve dressed in Union soldier uniforms wielded authentic recreations of Union Army Springfield rifles. Captain John Hart said a tradition is being kept alive that is taking place both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The veterans of the Confederacy made arrangements with northern veterans many years ago to exchange honors of each others buried soldiers.

The VFW received a certificate from the Order of the Confederates in Florida, expressing their kind regards for the service, and a bag of soil from a southern state.

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