When the sun rises on the morning of Memorial Day, let us not allow there to be a single veteran headstone in America that looks like this.
This is not patina. This is pure filth due to neglect.
These are the same headstones we see in our National Cemeteries, cut from the same quarries.
If we showed up at Arlington, or the cemeteries at the beaches of Normandy, and found the veteran headstones looking like this, we’d be pretty upset and we’d demand something be done about it. Fortunately, the National Cemetery Administration maintains about three million of these veteran stones in our National Cemeteries. However, we 330 million Americans are not doing our part to honor these veteran headstones and grave markers located in our local cemeteries.
My name is Trae Zipperer, I’m just the spokesperson for these stones. I founded By Memorial Day with a mission to clean every veteran headstone in America by Memorial Day. I hope you will join me by getting out into your local cemeteries, finding these veteran headstones, and cleaning them by Memorial Day.
These headstones need a good bath every year, so I hope you will adopt the headstones you clean and come back every year by Memorial Day to make sure they look respectable.
For the past five months, I’ve been working to remove all barriers that hinder the cleaning of these veteran grave markers. I’m really excited about this new protocol issued by the National Cemetery Administration. For the first time in 141 years, we now have a document to tell people how to care for these veteran headstones and grave markers located in private and municipal cemeteries. I’d like to thank Congressman Brian Mast from the Palm Beach area of Florida, and his staff, for listening to my message and taking immediate action to address this issue. Brian Mast is a veteran by the way. I’d also like to thank the National Cemetery Administration for their team effort to produce this guidance.
The opening paragraph states These Government furnished veteran headstones and grave markers remain federal property. This key point is critical, because it removes the barrier of concern by cemetery owners regarding personal property rights. If you are a cemetery owner, caretaker, or leader of a municipality, you now have an excuse in this document to say YES when volunteers ask for permission to clean these veteran headstones. So, use this document!
I was able to get water approved as a cleaning solution for cleaning veteran headstones. This removes the barrier of cost and also the barrier of not being able to put your hands on a cleaning product. We no longer have an excuse why we can’t get up off of our couches right now and go clean a neglected veteran grave marker.
The protocol also provides a list of cleaning solution products as examples of products containing quaternary ammonium compounds effective at removing biological growth such as algae and lichens without harming the natural stone. Two of the products listed by name include WET & FORGET (Wet and Forget) and D/2 Biological Solution.
The protocol from the National Cemetery Administration is posted online at VA.gov. You can find a link to the protocol at ByMemorialDay.com
With 330 million Americans, there’s no reason why we can’t clean every veteran headstone in America by Memorial Day if we spread the word to our friends, family, and neighbors via social media.
Contact your local news organizations including tv news, newspapers, and radio stations right now and let them know about this patriotic cause to clean every veteran headstone in America by Memorial Day.