Joseph Breck, left, and friends, are shown attempting to straighten the collapsed iron fence at Miers Cemetery.
Submitted photo
Flower boxes were made and hung to add decor to the project.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Joe Breck displays refurbished fence markers from Miers Cemetery in Wyoming County. The centuries old cemetery has been cleaned up and brought back as a part of Breck’s attempt at attaining his Eagle Scout badge for West Pittston Cub Pack/Troop 302.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
After reparing the iron fence to Miers Cemetery, Eagle Scout badge candidate Joseph Breck, is shown painting the fence black.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
After extensive repairs made, the fence at Miers Cemetery is looking brand new. Eagle Scout candidate Joseph Breck cleaned up the cemetery by clearing dead branches, fixing tombstones, cutting grass and acknowledging Veterans with U.S. flags.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
WYOMING COUNTY – When Joseph Breck Jr. became a candidate for his Eagle Scout badge, the highest honor for an Eagle Scout, he called a forgotten cemetery near his family’s land sandwiched between Rt. 2002 and U.S. highway 292, Pine Ridge Road, Tunkhannock.
It was that cemetery that badly needed attention, especially since it was long forgotten by many.
Lying at Miers Cemetery are some of the oldest gravesites in Northeastern Pa., including someone that died during the War of 1776 – The American Revolutionary War.
Breck, a 16-year-old Wyoming Area student and son of Joseph Sr. and Tracie Breck, Exeter, has been a long-standing Scout from West Pittston Cub Pack/Scout Troop 302.
He has now reached the stage of his Scouting career to perform his duties to garner his Eagle Scout badge; the seventh and highest rank earned by Scouts, earned after the Life Scout rank.
“We have property up here in Wyoming County and I’ve seen it (cemetery) run down with fallen trees and the fence was bent and fallen over,” Breck said. “There’s a lot of war history here and I thought it would be nice to renovate it.”
Over the years, Breck has picked up trees and sticks, reset tombstones, fixed the fallen fence that was erected in 1928, and redone the flower boxes.
For Breck’s Eagle Scout Project, he has resurrected the fence and painting it with a protective sealer paint resistant to UV rays and other elements.
“There are gravesites from people buried here from the War of 1776, the Civil War, and the War of 1812,” Breck added. “I thought it would be nice to do the cemetery because it’s so nice here and because of the war history.”
The Wyoming Area junior is looking to pass his Eagle Scout review and would look forward to the Eagle Scout ceremony.
According to Breck, those who have been awarded the Eagle Scout badge gives you an advantage when joining the service.
“There are plenty of advantages to having your Eagle Scout badge,” Breck admitted. “I plan on going into the Navy and I should be entering two rankings higher because of my Eagle Scout badge.”
Pat Messina is the West Pittston Cub Pack/Scout Troop 302 master based out of Corpus Cristi Parish Church.
