CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Eagle Scout candidate Michael Hacker of Troop 335 recently completed a community service project to restore and honor veterans' graves at Buffalo Cemetery.
Hacker led efforts to improve a section of the cemetery in Cheektowaga where hundreds of veterans are laid to rest. Over time, many of the headstones had become sunken, overgrown, or difficult to read.
“They were super sunken down about this deep. We raised them up with stone and dirt underneath,” Hacker said. He added that approximately 80 headstones were restored in one section of the cemetery.
WATCH: Eagle Scout candidate's community service project restores veterans' graves at Buffalo Cemetery
Hacker said he first realized the need for the project after regularly visiting the cemetery and noticing the condition of the graves.
“I would come by and a lot of them were filled with water and they were super hard to read,” he said. “I couldn’t tell if they were veterans, and I didn’t feel like that was right. I knew we needed to change that to make sure each and every veteran gets the recognition they deserve.”
For Hacker, the project was about more than completing a requirement for Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting.
“To me this means a lot because a lot of the times these veterans who risk their lives to serve us can get a little bit of recognition and be able to be remembered by their family members who may or may not be able to come here and take care of their headstones,” he said.
The project reflects the values of Scouting, emphasizing leadership, service, and community impact while ensuring that local veterans are properly honored and remembered.
