A group of high school students has taken it upon themselves to honor fallen veterans by restoring hundreds of long-forgotten grave markers in the lead-up to Memorial Day.
The grassroots movement, centered at Mount Calvary Cemetery, Cheektowaga, New York, has seen local teens uncover and raise over 500 sunken headstones belonging to U.S. military veterans whose service had been literally buried by time and neglect.
“You know, a lot of these people sacrificed so much,” said one student volunteer. “To see the memorials and not even be able to see the names on them, it’s kind of depressing.”
Led by Paul Mueller — whose own father, a World War II veteran, is buried at the cemetery — the project has transformed from a personal mission into a powerful community initiative, with young people playing a central role in reclaiming the memory of those who served.
“My dad is buried over here,” Mueller explained. “He’s a World War II vet, and I’d come out here every Father’s Day. I noticed that his headstone had sunk into the ground. And I’d bring a little bucket of stone with me and raise it up.”
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Moved by the condition of other nearby graves, Mueller decided to act — and began rallying volunteers, many of them students, to take on the massive task of restoring over 2,000 military headstones across the cemetery.
“To see these young kids giving back, they’re reading the names on the stones,” Mueller said. “It’s really great.”
For the students, it’s not just manual labor — it’s personal. Many of them said they feel a deep responsibility to honor the sacrifices made by those laid to rest beneath the soil they now work to uncover.
“It will be kind of cool to walk by and be able to say, ‘I helped do that,’” one teen said.
So far, more than 900 graves have been restored thanks to the hands and hearts of local volunteers. With Memorial Day fast approaching, the team hopes to complete the restoration of all 2,000 grave markers.
“This is our way of giving back,” said Mueller. “Our goal this year is actually to finish this.”
