History to come out of hiding, one grave at a time

LYNN – Jeff Stowell dug the last grave in Pine Grove Cemetery for a World War I veteran in 1987 and, since then, the small hill where 1,000 doughboys are buried has passed through the years silently except for the sound of mowers and small flags flapping.That changes next week when Stowell, city assistant parks and cemetery superintendent, said workers armed with sand blasters will strip decades of black and gray discoloration and mold off all but a handful of graves in Pine Grove?s World War I section. The eight graves spared blasting were replaced with new marble stones in recent years to replace cracked and broken ones.The blasting will cost about $5,000 and Stowell anticipates the work will be done before Veterans Day, Nov. 11.?They will look brand-new,” Stowell said.Cleaning will not simply leave rows of clean, light-colored stones – it will strip away the shrouds of time that have obscured the engraved inscriptions on each grave telling a brief story about men who fought in Europe and on the Atlantic Ocean almost 100 years ago.Some of them served in early versions of the Air Force called “Flying Detachments” or “Aero Squadrons.” Veteran Herbert Weeks was an Army saddler; Frank McAskill fought in the cavalry and Robert Hunt was a cook.Stowell said he helped dig Edwin Creighton?s grave by hand in 1987 – one year after veteran Joseph Dion was buried in the World War I section. In 2009, Grace Hennessey?s family gathered around her husband and World War I veteran George Hennessey?s grave for her burial service. She was born in 1906 and outlived Hennessey by 44 years.Age began to claim World War I veterans in the 1960s, but Stowell said some of them died in Europe and were returned to Lynn for burial. Their memories are enshrined on local street corners, bridges and in squares bearing veterans? names.World War I veterans? lives are also honored in the Grand Army of the Republic building where copper-engraved portraits of 150 Lynn veterans, including Matthew Buchanan, Edward Chase and Frederick Purdon, hang in rows inside the downtown museum.Stowell said next week?s blasting comes a year after Wyoma Lions Club members cleaned 573 gravestones in Pine Grove?s Civil War lot.?They have expressed an interest in doing the World War II lot,” he said.A giant statue of a soldier, helmet in one hand with a rifle slung over his shoulder, looks down on the World War I graves. Its granite base is clean but the iron artillery piece next to the monument is a home for yellow jackets and covered with peeling paint. A gap of empty grass separates the hilltop monument from the veteran?s graves.?We?ve got the room but I don?t think we are getting any more World War I vets,” Stowell said.