One U.S. Navy veteran has made it his mission to honor those men and women who have sacrificed their lives in service of this country, taking it one gravesite at a time.
Trae Zipperer, founder of the nonprofit By Memorial Day, has been leading the charge to promote annual maintenance of veteran headstones located outside of national cemeteries.
“We believe every veteran headstone should be maintained in a clean and respectable condition as if it belongs in Arlington,” his organization’s website states. “We serve to inspire patriotic Americans in every town, in every corner of our great land, to organize a group of local volunteers to visit each cemetery nearby for the purpose of identifying veteran headstones in need of cleaning.”
Once identified, headstones will be cleaned using the National Cemetery Administration’s official protocol.
Zipperer travels around the country to help maintain and clean thousands of veteran headstones that have been dirtied or damaged over time, he told NewsNation.
It’s heartbreaking to look up some of the names of fallen servicemen and women and realize they did so much to save their country, Zipperer said.
“When you find these headstones that are covered in filth and you see those dates of 1942, 1943, 44, 45, 51, 67, and you look up these these names online and you find out that they were killed in action in service to our country, it just makes it that much more meaningful to get the filth off of them and show them the respect that they deserve as someone who gave their lives for our country,” Zipperer said during an interview that aired Monday on Morning in America.
The latest data from the National Cemetery Administration shows that in 2022 alone, about 140,000 veteran headstone markers went to private cemeteries. It’s Zipperer’s goal to keep all those taken care of.
Videos from Zipperer’s grave-cleaning events show numerous volunteers coming out to help honor the fallen.