Joe and Robbie Pycior, East Windsor, place a flag at their father's gave at the BG William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Friday. Joe and Robbie joined more than 1,000 other scouts at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery to place a flag at the graves of the more than 25,000 New Jersey veterans interred there. 

"Scouting was a very important part of my husband's life," said Terri Pycior of Petty Officer First Class Joseph J. Pycior, Jr. who died at the Pentagon September 11, 2001. "He was just months away from retiring, he planned on trading his military uniform for a scout one. He had been a troop leader for more than two years and really loved it."

New Jersey scouts have been decorating the graves at the cemetery for Memorial Day for the last 12 years. After the graves were decorated, the scouts enjoyed a cook-out style hotdog dinner. This community service was commemorated with a scouting patch.

On Memorial Day 1986 Governor Thomas H. Kean dedicated the 234 acres near Arneytown -- New Jersey’s first state-operated veterans cemetery -- “as a lasting memorial to those men and women who put their lives on the line to defend our country’s honor and freedom.” The cemetery was named in honor of BG William C. Doyle on January 3, 1989. Since its opening, more than 25,000 veterans or their eligible family members have been interred. The cemetery is the busiest state-operated veterans cemetery in the United States.