George Cholister is one of the rare military men to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during peacetime. This Camden County native was posthumously awarded his medal in 1933.
Citation for his award:
"For extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession on the occasion of a fire on board the U S.S. Trenton. At 3:35 on the afternoon of October 20, 1924, while the Trenton was preparing to fire trial installation shots from the two 6- inch guns in the forward twin mount of that vessel, 2 charges of powder ignited. Twenty men were trapped in the twin mount. Four died almost immediately and 10 later from burns and inhalation of flames and gases. The 6 others were severely injured. Cholister, without thought of his own safety, on seeing that the charge of powder from the left gun was ignited, jumped for the right charge and endeavored to put it in the immersion tank. The left charge burst into flame and ignited the right charge before Cholister could accomplish his purpose. He fell unconscious while making a supreme effort to save his shipmates and died the following day."
The cache is not located at the posted coordinates, but is the site of Mr. Cholister's grave in Colestown Cemetery in Cherry Hill, NJ. You'll need to visit to gather information for the final:
The cache is located nearby at N39 56.ABC W74 59.DEF
Take the following numbers from George Cholister's flat stone that lists his Medal of Honor:
A = First two numbers of year of birth minus day of birth.
B = 3rd digit of birth year
C = last digit of death year, plus 1
D = Number of letters in his middle name
Take the following from the grave directly behind Mr. Cholister's headstone (family name on the stone starts with Mc):
E = Third digit of year Mary died, plus 1
F = Last digit of the year that Mary died.
Check:
A + B + C = 14
D + E + F = 19
Cache is a bison tube located a short distance away. No need to be near or disturb any graves near the final. A pin or other tool might help to coax the log out of it's container that keeps it dry. Cache only available during cemetery hours (dawn to dusk). Please be respectful of this historic, but also still active, cemetery.
*IMPORTANT NOTE - Doing a lot of maintenance at the cemetery right now. Added a temporary secondary cache if you add .002 to the West coordinates once you solve.
When they seem done with whatever they are doing, I’ll get rid of one of the containers. *