TMCnet News
Union Labor Laboring on Labor Day...pro bono...at Old Pine Conservancy--(Business Wire)-- Old Pine Conservancy:
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT: A recent dialogue between graveyard historian Ronn Shaffer and John Puntel, Stonemason Field Agent, matched "work-to-be-done with labor-to-do-it." As Shaffer explained, "The historic graveyard has 160 documented Revolutionary War soldiers, officers and patriots. Few of the gravestones are legible…others have fractured and many are missing." To honor the memory and identify these fallen heroes, Old Pine Conservancy purchased and installed Minuteman Medallions. These were topped off with 13-star flags supplied by the Sons of the American Revolution (News - Alert). However, this panorama of gently waving flags falls short in telling visitors who is buried there. Taking advantage of the Memorial Program Services by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Shaffer supplied documentation and applied for eight white marble markers: four upright and four flat. Intaglio lettering on the front face includes: grave number, soldier's name, rank, company, battalion, regiment, birth and death dates. As Shaffer explained, "The VA supplies an upright marker when no headstone is present…and even then a ground level flat marker may be substituted. In Old Pine's Graveyard, any replacement marker must blend in to maintain the 18th century verticality of the extant historic gravestones." Labor Day pro-bono work of Local Union No. 1 provides a basis to step back and visually determine how many additional 50-75 replacement markers will be ordered…upright or flat. As union official John Puntel said, "Let's hope for cooler weather for that installation."
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