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Community Gathers to Remember Veterans

Volunteers in Southern Colorado stepped up to fill the gap, one by one checking every grave to ensure their memory is kept alive.
Southern Colorado community gathers to remember veterans
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UCHealth and volunteers of all ages are taking on the task of checking every one of the 20,000 graves at Imperial Memorial Cemetery to map out the veterans who are buried here.

"In years past, it’s true of every cemetery that they weren’t able to keep as good records. We just didn’t have as much information as we have now,” said the general manager at Imperial Memorial Gardens, Derringer Martinez.

This effort is crucial in a community with so many veterans and active military members.

A Military Veteran, Jacobo Varela, is volunteering his Saturday to ensure the sacrifice of every veteran buried here is remembered and honored.

“Identifying all these old grave markers is really important. They can get lost over time as family members pass away and there’s nobody here to remember them. That’s what we’re here for,” he said.

Watch the full story above.

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