SAUGUS – Gordon Shepard will tell you he’s not a hero, but the truth of the matter is that he is one to many.”He’s a great, great man,” said veteran Bill Boomhower. “Saugus should be honored – I hope I know this guy until my dying day.”For a little more than six years, the Vietnam veteran has quietly tended the veterans section of Riverside Cemetery, raising sunken plaques, mowing grass, tracking down names to go with eight unmarked graves and most recently laying curbing. No one has ever asked him to do the work and he has never sought recognition for it.He does it, he said, because it needs to be done.”I’m honored and privileged to do this,” he said. “Maybe it’s because of the things I saw in Vietnam ? but I didn’t die.”Living historyShepard cannot walk through the section without pausing to tell a story or two.”Come on, I’ll show you some history,” he said.He stopped at the Kasabuski brothers markers, which sit side by side. Both served in the 87th Mountain Infantry and both died in April 1945.”John was hit by a grenade,” he said. “He lived long enough for Walter to come hold him. Twelve days later Walter took a round to the head.”He pointed to the date on a marker for Joseph Wilson Pace, Dec. 7, 1941 – the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, pushing the United States into World War II.”He was on the Oklahoma,” Shepard said. “Next to him is Arthur DeFranzo, he’s a medal of honor winner.”When asked how he got started tending the area he calls the most important piece of property in the town, Shepard pointed out the marker for Richard “Dicky” Devine, his best friend.Devine grew up two doors down from Shepard but the pair didn’t know each other well until about 1967 when Devine was drafted and Shepard enlisted. Home before being shipped out, the pair talked and made plans to meet up once they were stationed in Vietnam. They met in Da Nang.”That was in December when things were heating up,” he said. “He was killed in January in the Tet Offensive.”Every year Shepard would come to the cemetery to pay his respects to Devine and he began to notice how run down the area was.The workShepard said he does not fault the cemetery employees for the lack of upkeep because there are only two and they have their hands full with day-to-day operations. So he decided to take it upon himself to help out.At first he would sneak into the cemetery at 5 a.m. because he was afraid if he got caught someone might try and stop him, he said with a laugh. Then he decided take a stand. He showed up at 9 a.m. and started to work.”Sure enough a government truck rolled right up,” he said. “I stood there waiting and he rolled his window down and looked at me and said, ?If you clean up one you’ll have to clean up all of them.'”And since then he has.Along with a lot of help, he raised the sunken graves, landscaped the area and spent months on the phone while pouring through records to track down the names and order new markers for eight unmarked graves.His latest projectGrave markers that circle the perimeter of the veterans section of Riverside Cemetery were taking some serious abuse until Shepard stepped in to help.For the last two years Shepard has been quietly raising money to install 430 feet of curbing around the veterans section to protect the outer markers that were prone to inadvertent abuse.”They were only about a foot off the road,” Shepard said. “In the winter the plow would come through and they couldn’t even see them.”Even in good weather, the markers, which were flush with the cemetery road, would get walked on or driven across simply because they were so hard to see, Shepard said.His plan was to install curbing several inches high and raise the markers to protect them and his plan is almost complete.Not knowing where to start the project, Shepard contacted local businessman Michael Procopio, who pointed him in the right direction, he said.Shepard contacted Mike O’Neil, a construction supervisor for Cranshaw Construction, who cut the road to make way f