Every Memorial Day, we see or read stories of ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things that make us all proud of their exploits, which is the reason we have the day, to begin with. One veteran in Seattle donated his time and effort into cleaning up the veteran’s headstones in a cemetery.

Jordan Houghton and several other members of American Legion Post 206 in Seattle are giving their time and efforts to clean up the veterans graves in Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Washington.

“A lot of people think it’s a long weekend. In reality, it’s about the sacrifices that families have made and those people from the families,” said Houghton, also a veteran.

Houghton, who’s worked hours trying to scrub the decades’ worth of dirt and grime from the headstones, said every person buried in the cemetery “has a story” and he’s picked up little pieces of each veteran’s life.

“Well, there’s a lot of stuff that’s lost in history. Some of these graves tell amazing stories,” he told ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV recently.

He said he’d found an Irish doctor who’d served as a commander as well as a World War I nurse corps lieutenant, who, he said, was likely one of the first females ever to serve in the Army.

During his visits, he’s also gotten a chance to meet with military families. He said that while he and others have cleaned about a couple thousand headstones, a few thousand still remain.

The American Legion Post 206 plans to keep at the cleaning effort until every last one is no longer defiled.

“You do get a little bit of an intimate history of this person, where they were born, how they lived, what they earned while they were in the military. It’s really interesting,” Houghton said.

Watching the reaction that Houghton got when interacting with the family of one veteran says it all. His and those of his post are greatly appreciated.

To read the entire article from ABC News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia