Future leaders turn to the past as a way to achieve a high honor. Two Chicago-area Eagle Scout candidates chose projects which remember veterans who are no longer with us.
The two scouts have worked out of two different cemeteries and to help honor war veterans of years’ past.
Walk inside Saint Charles North Cemetery and you’ll find 150 Civil War headstones. They’re not hard to spot. Most are askew and darkened from decades of neglect.
But not all.
Two gravestones of soldiers from the 52nd Illinois Infantry now stand straight and gleam in the sun thanks to 18-year-old Luke Grimm. For his Eagle Scout project, he chose to restore 26 gravestones dating back to the 1800’s.
“I’ve always been interested in history and I really think that veterans deserve a lot of appreciation —especially today — I don’t think they get the appreciation as they should,” he said.
Matt Clark is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
“We want to make sure that our Civil War veteran, whether North or South, that they’re honored, that we take care of the cemeteries where they’re buried in,” he said.
Clark also happens to work with Eagle Scouts, so Luke’s project was a perfect partnership. They hoist marble stones out of the ground then refill the space to stabilize it and return the headstone upright into the ground. The final phase is cleaning it with an environmentally friendly solvent.
Luke’s project actually took place in August. It was completed in just one day with the help of 25 adults and fellow members of Scout Troop 56.
Eagle Scout Finn Rafferty, 16, of Orland Park, said he was thinking about his project as a way to help veterans too.
“I was thinking about what to give back to the veterans and how can I help and learn something cool and new,” he said.
He found it by creating a “flag placement tool.”
Local 597 Pipefitters provided the training for Finn and about 20 other members of Scout Troop 318.
While at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois, Finn demonstrated how the tool works. The straightforward concept can make a big difference for flag placement into the ground.
Finn’s project took place three days before Memorial Day on what’s called “Flags in Day.” On March 24, thousands of volunteers placed American flags on the more than 63,000 headstones. Finn chose Section 18 for a reason.
“I have many family members buried here,” he said.
This is the final resting place for his grandfather, great grandfather and two great uncles. For Finn, the simple tool adorned in red, white and blue, honors his family and underscores the strong bond between Scouts and Veterans of war.
“I think that we know what it’s like to know how to respect America and all the dedication and sacrifice that so many people have gone through to protect us,” he said.
Both earned their Eagle Scout status.
