Many years ago, one of our long-time descendant members Joe Rupp mentioned that he was going to go to Gettysburg to work on the battlefield for a “Volunteer Work Day” program…I don’t recall if anyone else went with Joe that year, but in the years that followed the interest grew, to the point where we were recognized one year as the “group with the most volunteers” for that work day…

Over the course of our participation in the VWD efforts, which is under the direction of the Gettysburg Foundation [formerly “Friends of Gettysburg”], along with the National Park Service, we have been a part of many, many rewarding projects aimed at maintaining and preserving the Gettysburg battlefield for generations to come…this has included painting some of the historic structures [Codori Barn, McPherson Barn, Eisenhower Farm HQ building], historic fences, as well as building and repairing thousands of feet of historic fence lines, clearing brush along the fence lines, and several details inside the Soldiers National Cemetery [painting the engraved names on the Civil War markers, cleaning headstones]…

Which brings us to Saturday, June 7th, 2025, which started out with some light to steady rain for the morning hours…as it turned out, our small crew of five joined a much larger crew of volunteers for the “headstone cleaning” detail in the cemetery, and the rain didn’t bother us much, as the first step in the process of cleaning headstones is to wet them…from there, a cleaning solution [D2] is applied with pump sprayers, followed by a gentle scrubbing with nylon brushes, and then a second wetting or rinsing with the hoses…

This process results in a visible improvement, especially for the stones that were shaded and under trees, but the D2 cleaner is intended to produce a gradual cleaning of the marble stones through the repeated cycles of sunlight and rain, allowing the cleaner to penetrate the stone without causing any harmful deterioration…when you walk through the cemetery at any given time and see nearly pure white headstones, you are seeing the results of a cleaning cycle done weeks or months prior…

As with any of the duties performed involving the headstones, we never lose sight of the fact that each one represents someone who gave “the last full measure of devotion”, and to reinforce that, Wayne Motts, a man who wears too many hats to list, was kind enough to walk among the stones as we were cleaning, and stop to share a few stories about the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grandfathers or grandmothers whose names are engraved into history…

And so it continues amongst the volunteers…we had Tim Bowser, Matt Zimmerman and his son Gavin, and myself [Slim Bowser] with grandson Cayden Mechling, who along with many other fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, grandmas and grandpas, worked together to clean most [or all] of the non-Civil War headstones in the cemetery that day…

We were treated to lunch provided by the Gettysburg Foundation at the Gettysburg High School at noon, before returning to finish the job in the afternoon…the sunshine also returned, which gave us a chance to dry out, and made the white marble shine a little brighter…of course in that setting, among the thousands of graves, I couldn’t help but think of how God gives us the chance to become clean again, by submitting to the “cleaning process” provided by the blood of His Son Jesus, which makes us “white as snow” once we repent and believe!

At the end of the hard days work, we went back to get cleaned up so we could enjoy our annual “post work day cookout” at the beautiful log cabin reserved at Drummer Boy Camping Resort…it’s hard to beat setting on the cabin porch overlooking the pond, enjoying food, friends, and fellowship [and bullfrogs!] at one of our favorite Gettysburg locations…

If you want more information about Volunteer Work Day, you can go to: http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org

If you are interested in Drummer Boy Resort, go to:www.thousandtrails.com and search Drummer Boy Campground

We look forward to Volunteer Work Day 2026…hope to see you there!