A local Boy Scout uncovered history lost through the passage of time and the build-up of dirt over more than 150 years after recovering the tombstones of two Civil War Union soldiers buried in a Great Neck cemetery.
“I was just really amazed at first,” Boy Scout Sam Fong said upon discovering the tombstones. “When I first started this project, I didn’t even know there were Civil War veterans buried there, veterans from that far back in history.”
A Great Neck South High School student, Fong, who is 15, has been scouting since the first grade and joined the Boy Scouts in sixth grade. His efforts to uncover these one-forgotten tombs were part of a community service project for the organization.
Fong, a Life Scout ranking, said this community service project is an initiative for him to increase in rank to Eagle Scout, the highest ranking available in the Boy Scouting program.
The scout took on this community service project after being inspired by his leader, Donald Panetta, who was aware of the need to clean these tombs. This in tandem with his appreciation for his grandfather – a Navy man in the Korean War – led to Fong’s taking on the task.
Three Civil War soldiers are buried in All Saints’ Cemetery in Great Neck, but decades of overgrowth overtook the tombstones of two soldiers – Samuel E. Day and Loren Brown – wiping them wiped from the cemetery’s history.
According to research conducted by Fong, Day enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War in May of 1861 at the age of 28.
Day was initially a member of the First Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry but later became a first lieutenant to lead Black soldiers in the Third North Carolina Colored Volunteers.
Day died in Great Neck on Nov. 24, 1892.
Brown was a private who enlisted in 1865 – nearing the end of the war – in the 61st Massachusetts Volunteers Infantry at just 18 years old. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Post #330.
Brown died in Great Neck on Dec. 24, 1905.
How a headstone planted into the ground could be lost can seem baffling, but after years of thick moss and dirt buildup, the tombs can become obscured by the natural environment and no longer legible.
Fong said the scouts had records indicating the veterans were buried at the cemetery, but no indication of where they were located.
So Fong, with 28 Boy Scouts from Troop 10, scoured the cemetery on Nov. 7 to find individuals lost over time.
The scouts scraped and brushed down 115 veteran tombstones with a cleaning solution, using stainless steel sponges and toothbrushes to reveal the words imprinted upon the stones.
“By removing decades of dirt, grime and moss from each headstone, we were able to recognize each veteran’s service to this country,” Fong said.
As the scouts searched the vast cemetery and meticulously scrubbed the tombstones, Fong said what pushed him forward to complete the project was the motivation to honor the once-forgotten veterans.
“The sacrifice they made was great for our country,” Fong said. “All the freedoms that we enjoy today are because veterans sacrificed their lives for the country…it was an honor to be able to do this project and to be able to honor the veterans buried there.”
Shock and amazement flooded Fong upon discovering the long-forgotten tombs, he said.
Fong is still working to finish his project, with his next step to make a map for visitors to locate veteran tombs.
To gather all the names of the veterans buried in the Great Neck cemetery, Fong had to walk through the entire grounds and write down every name he saw on the tombstones and the war they served in.
Fong said this part of the project took some extra work. Some of the details were easy to find, including the war right on the tombstone, but others had to be deciphered by the shape of the headstone.
“And so I walked through that cemetery many times,” Fong said.
After devoting what Fong estimated to be more than 120 hours of work, he still has months ahead of him. His goal is to have the project completed by mid-February to be ready for a ceremony by Memorial Day.
“This year [Memorial Day] will be extra special because it will be the first time that the names on the veterans’ tombstones will be clear for everyone to read,” Fong said.
Already completed in his project is the construction of a wooden display kiosk which will placed in the cemetery. The kiosk will display the names of the veterans and a map of where they are buried. This was achieved with the help of two older scouts.
If anyone has a family member who’s a veteran buried at the cemetery, Fong said individuals can reach out to him at sycfong15@gmail.com.