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Volunteers Giving Veterans Who Died In Tuberculosis Outbreak Proper Headstones

WEIMAR (CBS13) — A group of veterans who died near Auburn in the early- to mid-1900s were laid to rest in an unmarked grave.

Those veterans of World War I and World War II are now getting new marble headstones similar to the ones seen at Arlington National Cemetery.

At first glance, it doesn't even look like a graveyard, with small pieces of wood marking the graves, thanks to some volunteers. Now, any veterans buried there will have a proper resting place.

Tucked away in a forgotten corner of Weimar is a cemetery dedicated to 1,400 people who lost their lives to tuberculosis decades ago.

"When you got it it was almost probably a death sentence at that time because they couldn't figure out how to stop it," said cemetery superintendent Craig Ballenger.

The epidemic forced thousands from their families to a hospital in Weimar. The patients had to be quarantined, and those who didn't make it ended up buried with nothing but a small wooden post to mark their graves.

"Very plain, they are just numbers, letters," he said. "Some of them have rotted away through the years."

Among the dead were 33 veterans from the two world wars, but at their graves are no names or dates of birth.

"It's kind of sad, because it's nice to be remembered," he said. "That you were here at one time. Your name and date, whether its just the birth date and death date probably means a lot when somebody comes looking."

Now, several volunteers started compiling old records and eventually came up with a plan to replace old wooden posts with 4-foot-tall, 235-pound marble headstones.

Several were installed over the weekend, an honor Ballenger says is long overdue.

"Other than just having just a letter and a number on a wooden stone, now they've got something that they can be proud of," he said.

So far seven of the 33 veterans buried have new headstones. The goal is to have them all replace by Memorial Day.

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