LAWTON, Mich. — Volunteers gathered at Oak Grove Cemetery in Lawton on Saturday to honor forgotten heroes.
Members of the American Legion Post 220, local businesses, and members of the community teamed up to clean the headstones of veterans, namely headstones that have been neglected.
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The event’s organizer was cleaning her own family stones last year when she noticed numerous headstones of veterans needed attention. She started to clean them, but realized the scope of the job.
“So I started on my own last summer and I realized I have a big job ahead of me. So I decided to bring it to the Legion and ask for community help and I’ve had overwhelming support with people wanting to help and people wanting clean,” said Laurie Bastian, the event’s organizer.
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Volunteers first cleaned the headstones with water, then gently scraped moss and lichen off, and used a biological cleaning solution commonly used for conservation called D/2…