CRESTVIEW — A number of volunteers have ensured that American veterans are unforgotten.
Saturday, members of Crestview’s VFW Post 5450 met at Old Bethel Cemetery on Old Bethel Road to clean gravesites and surrounding areas of veterans of American wars. Some of the gravesites have broken headstones; some of the names are indistinguishable.
“There are 66 veterans buried here dating back to the pre-Civil War period. Most of them from that period were Confederate soldiers,” said Trent Rundell, a 24-year Air Force veteran. Volunteers sprayed a solution on headstones that helped make names more visible.
“This is the first time our post has come out here and done this. We do come out here and to other local cemeteries every Memorial Day and place American flags on gravesites,” said Scott Hice, a 22-year Air Force vet.
Also helping was John Hamilton, a retired Marine who served in Vietnam. He recently retired as the VFW's national adjutant general and was the national commander-in-chief from 2012-2013. He moved to Crestview to help in VFW District 1.
The Crestview Historic Preservation Board in 2013 selected Old Bethel Cemetery as a location for a historical landmark marker. The marker also recognizes the significance of the Old Bethel Church, a log structure that dates back to the 1830s.
Local oral history says a mass grave of Confederate soldiers, from a skirmish in the nearby Yellow River, is buried within a circle of a field of stones in the cemetery’s oldest section. However, University of West Florida archaeologists say they cannot find evidence of bodies below the markers.
In 2017, the post’s members hope to help clean other local cemeteries where veterans are laid to rest, volunteers said.
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Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article misspelled Scott Hice's name. In addition, the article previously included incorrect positions for John Hamilton within the VFW.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Respecting the dead