Veterans work to revitalize cemetery “in peril” as clean-up efforts falter during covid

A veterans group in Mobile, Alabama has started a non-profit group aimed at revitalizing and maintaining a local cemetery that has fallen into disrepair. 

Oaklawn Cemetery is home to more than 800 buried veterans, but has unfortunately become overgrown, even making the Alabama Historical Commission’s list of “places in peril” last year.

 For the last three years, veterans took it upon themselves to try and revitalize the cemetery, but the onset of a global pandemic has slowed the efforts. 

That’s why the Veterans Memorial Recovery Team was formed earlier this year, with plans to raise money to help with the cemetery’s groundskeeping and documentation. 

“It was looking pretty good until the pandemic. Then people stopped coming out and a lot has grown up again,” said President of the Veterans Memorial Recovery Team Bill Atkeison. 

“I’d like to see the whole cemetery cleaned with a flag on every veteran’s headstone,” Atkeison explained. 

“We’re veterans, we fought for the country we fought for our way of life, and the veterans who’ve gone on need to be honored.”