Hillcrest Cemetery Canton, Van Zandt County, Texas

07/27/2016

What a fun time we had last year! We hope you will come and play with us this year!

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07/25/2016

So excited...the fence is nearing completion at the cemetery. There is only the north side and the cleanup left. Here are photos along the west fence line as taken from 1st Monday grounds.

07/21/2016

The cemetery has come a long way since the organization of the committee for restoring this beautiful final resting place of many of the early settlers of Canton. Many hours have been spent cleaning and landscaping the grounds. All headstones have been cleaned and about half have been restored and/or reset. The 1920's sign has been refurbished and moved to a more prominent location at the entrance. A small meditation garden has been installed by the garden club. The new fence is being installed this week which replaces the old, very worn chain link fence.

06/06/2015

Although the term D-Day is used routinely as military lingo for the day an operation or event will take place, for many it is also synonymous with June 6, 1944, the day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from N**i control during World War II. Within three months, the northern part of France would be freed and the invasion force would be preparing to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet forces moving in from the east.

With Hi**er’s armies in control of most of mainland Europe, the Allies knew that a successful invasion of the continent was central to winning the war. Hi**er knew this too, and was expecting an assault on northwestern Europe in the spring of 1944. He hoped to repel the Allies from the coast with a strong counterattack that would delay future invasion attempts, giving him time to throw the majority of his forces into defeating the Soviet Union in the east. Once that was accomplished, he believed an all-out victory would soon be his.

On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.

By dawn on June 6, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground; the land invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture Gold, Juno and Sword beaches; so did the Americans at Utah. The task was much tougher at Omaha beach, however, where 2,000 troops were lost and it was only through the tenacity and quick-wittedness of troops on the ground that the objective was achieved. By day’s end, 155,000 Allied troops–Americans, British and Canadians–had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches.

For their part, the Germans suffered from confusion in the ranks and the absence of celebrated commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was away on leave. At first, Hi**er, believing that the invasion was a feint designed to distract the Germans from a coming attack north of the Seine River, refused to release nearby divisions to join the counterattack and reinforcements had to be called from further afield, causing delays. He also hesitated in calling for armored divisions to help in the defense. In addition, the Germans were hampered by effective Allied air support, which took out many key bridges and forced the Germans to take long detours, as well as efficient Allied naval support, which helped protect advancing Allied troops.

Though it did not go off exactly as planned, as later claimed by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery–for example, the Allies were able to land only fractions of the supplies and vehicles they had intended in France–D-Day was a decided success. By the end of June, the Allies had 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy and were poised to continue their march across Europe.

On this day in History, D-Day on Jun 06, 1944. Learn more about what happened today on History.

03/02/2015

You will find the full size article in the Van Zandt County Genealogical Society quarterly publication, "Our Heritage".

03/02/2015

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01/01/2014

09/08/2013

Thanks goes to Mr. Elvis Allen for the awesome restoration work done on the Hillcrest Cemetery Texas Historical Marker. Just take a look at the before an after photos!!!

08/14/2013

V-J DAY (Victory over Japan Day) is the day Japan surrendered, which effectively ended World War II. Japan announced the surrender on the afternoon of August 15, 1945 in Japan. However, because of the time zone differences, President Harry S Truman’s announcement happened in the United States on August 14 1945.
There were all kinds of celebrations around the nation and in particular a "coast-to-coast frenzy of [servicemen] kissing". Life magazine dispatched photographers to several major cities to capture candid celebratory images. On this day, photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, captured what would become Life magazine’s most famous image Life they have ever published in Times Square…

07/10/2013

Super exciting things happening in the cemetery over the last couple of days. Lots of dead trees cut down and lots of stump grinding has taken place.

We hope to have a good turn out on Saturday to do more trimming and tombstone cleaning. We need volunteers with gloves, rakes, and other yard maintenance tools. We will be there from 7am until 10am. If you can come and spend just a little time, it would be greatly appreciated.

Click on the photos for larger pics and a description!

07/01/2013

Flags are flying at Hillcrest Cemetery in honor of the Independence Day 2013. If you have a chance... go by the cemetery this week and see just how nice it's beginning to look.

06/24/2013

On Friday, a small group of enthusiastic Hillcrest Cemetery volunteer committee members met at 7:30am. Great headway was made in trimming trees and removing seedlings toward the front of the cemetery.

In addition to the scrub removal, we began the task of cleaning the headstones. There are over 800 headstones in the cemetery so this is expected to take some time to complete. We are using a solution that is safe for all the headstones and the environment. Besides the sheer number of stones to clean, the cost of the solution will be another factor on how long it may take to complete the headstone clean-up.

If you would like to contribute to this worthwhile project, please contact us at [email protected] or call Laurie McDonald at 214-235-7200 for information. We accept cash/check contributions and Paypal.