American Legion cleans up local cemetery with centuries of history

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    SWANSEA, Illinois (KMOV) — Local volunteers cleaned the graves of local veterans Saturday morning at a cemetery with centuries of history.

The Messinger Cemetery is located north of Belleville in Swansea, Illinois, and it dates back to the earliest years of the state’s history. Originally built on the land of John Messinger, Illinois’ first Speaker of the House, the cemetery had been neglected for years before the local post of the American Legion “adopted” the cemetery.

“There are seven veterans that are buried here,” Post 2007 Commander Jim Page said. “In the past, it was kind of a forgotten cemetery, and we’re here to honor those veterans and help our community… To have any veteran forgotten, their graves just left unattended, is just not acceptable for us.”

Saturday’s cleanup included about a dozen volunteers from the American Legion as well as several local Boy Scouts. The group also respectfully retired several American flags by burning them as part of a reverent ceremony.

“We’ll respectfully burn these American flags, and then we will collect the ashes and bury them,” Post 2007 Vice Commander Bill Martin said. “That’s the way we try to take care of these flags.”

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