Some 100 volunteers, armed with brushes and bleach, converged on a military cemetery in Hartford on Friday to clean headstones as part of United Way's Day of Caring.
"They've never been cleaned," said Edward Skopas, a Hebron resident, who joined other United Health Group employees at Northwood Cemetery. "They were covered in black soot, and lichen, and mold and mildew."
Volunteers spread out across the cemetery's Soldier's Field to clean 1,000 headstones marking the graves of Connecticut’s fallen heroes.
"Everybody stops what they're doing for their day job and they come out here, and that's really hard to do sometimes, and everybody gives 110 percent,” said Mary Ellen Ciccio of Southington.
One-hundred volunteers, armed with brushes and bleach, spread out across Soldier's Field in Northwood Cemetery to clean 1,000 headstones.
The stones had been darkened and discolored with age. Some of the fallen soldiers' names weren't even legible.
"It's hard to clean, but it's definitely worth it,” Ciccio said.
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The mission became personal for one volunteer, who found the grave of his wife's grandfather.
"About halfway through the job today somebody located it, we made our way over there, and it was awe inspiring," said Skopas.
Leon Styler served in World War I. The headstones of some of his comrades are marked "World War." At the time they were buried, no one knew there would be a second.
"Veterans and patriots who frankly laid a foundation of freedom for us and I think in many respects we owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude," said Skopas, pointing to graves that date all the way back to the Spanish-American War.
The city of Hartford hopes to have all 5,000 of its military headstones cleaned in time for Veterans Day in November.
