While most kids his age would likely spend a Saturday morning sleeping in, teenager Josh Bourbon had a better idea – honoring soldiers from his area’s Civil War past.
Honoring the Past
Bourbon, a life scout with Troop 32 in West Dundee, Illinois, spent the Saturday morning of Oct. 18 scraping off peat moss and the other blemishes from headstones that date back more than a century. With a pack of volunteers, Bourbon led a cleanup crew that brought a little more shine and honor to Union soldiers buried in the Dundee Township Cemetery.
To help complete his project, Bourbon received sponsorship from the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Camp No. 2, an organization in Aurora, Illinois, along with West Dundee’s VFW Post 2298 and the Three Fires Council in St. Charles, Illinois.
While Bourbon came up with the idea to clean the veteran headstones, he still needed approval from local organizations. When he approached Dundee Township and the Dundee Township Historical Society about his plans, both entities were on board, giving the green light for the restoration project.
No Easy Task
Despite being enthusiastic about the work, Bourbon realized scraping nature’s mold off aged and weather-worn headstones wouldn’t be an easy task. Bourbon and his volunteers grabbed bottles of D/2 Biological Solution, used by the U.S. government to clean historic buildings and national monuments, and started spraying. The solution is so potent that it’s used to wash away grime from headstones at Arlington National Cemetery…