Saugus veterans memorial gets a facelift

SAUGUS – Local veteran Gordon Shepard has spent the better part of five years maintaining and improving the veterans section at Riverside Cemetery in Saugus.Between weeding, cutting grass, and cleaning and fixing grave markers, Shepard most recently helped put the finishing touches on the site?s newest addition.Shepard enlisted the help of local landscaper Greg Stefano and garden supplier Brian Dusombre to a install a new stone skirt surrounding the veterans columbarium.?There was never a skirt there before so I called up a couple of guys and some blew me off,” said Shepard. “Then one guy came down and gave me a price of $1,700. I called Greg the next day, he looked at it and measured it ? he called Brian and he said he would be more than willing to donate the pavers.”Stefano sent two workers to the site to put in the pavers, which took a full day, at no cost to the town.?We just did it to help out,” said Stefano, who owns Stefano Landscaping in Saugus. “Anything to help a person out in this town. I was out there talking to Gordy and he told me about all the work he?s been doing down here so I kind of felt bad charging him. You have a lot of guys out there giving their lives. I?m not a veteran, (Dusombre) is not a vet, it?s the least I can do to give back.”The marble columbarium, which holds the ashes of veterans, was installed around three years ago and Shepard said the new skirt will help make it easier for visitors to leave flowers while keeping the area neater.?When the rain would come down, it would leave a trench and I would constantly be filling it in,” said Shepard. “You couldn?t grow grass there. That?s a huge amount of money that we saved. I didn?t have to go out and raise any money for that. It?s tremendous when you have guys who aren?t veterans helping us out.”The stone skirt is just one of many projects Shepard has overseen over the years. Most recently Shepard tracked down and replaced eight missing grave markers, which are currently honored with small American flags attached to them.Shepard spent years sifting through old records and trying to trace the names of veterans that had been either changed or misspelled throughout the years. The final marker was finally put in place several months ago, which belongs to Louis Olshansky, a World War I veteran who died in 1975.?Family members are supposed to ask for these markers,” said Shepard. “If they don?t then they don?t get them.”Shepard was also instrumental in restoring the existing markers and maintaining the area. He said he spends at least 20 hours a week taking care of the area which includes cutting grass, weed whacking and even cleaning goose droppings.Walking through the markers on a chilly afternoon last week, Shepard had a story for almost every veteran buried there including Joseph Wilson Pace, who died in the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and the Kasabuski brothers, Walter and John, who were killed 12 days apart fighting in Europe in World War II.?I?ve got some friends in here,” said Shepard. “A lot of friends? fathers are in here also. It just wasn?t being taken care of the way it should be. I don?t want to in any way put down the Cemetery Department, but when you only have two men take care of the cemetery ? they just don?t have the manpower to do it.”One major undertaking Shepard recently completed was digging out and repairing markers, which weigh about 180 pounds each. With time, Shepard said the markers began to sink into the ground, while others on the perimeter of the site had been accidentally run over and damaged.?They were anywhere between two and six inches below the ground, which they?re not supposed to be,” said Shepard. “Now you can see all four sides of the marker. That?s protocol. We had to pull them out and place crushed stone underneath them so they won?t sink down like they did previously.”For his next project Shepard said he wants to put a curb around the entire veterans site, which he said will make the area look even nicer and will go