Headstones and grave markers for 80 Black military service members were cleaned, installed and recognized by 300 volunteers at Woodland Cemetery, Saturday, Dec. 10.

The group was led by Augustus “Augie” D. Bryan, a 16-year-old James River High School student and a member of Boy Scout Midlothian Troop 1829 who initiated the group project.

The markers and headstones were found behind a building on the property and had been there for years untouched, dirty and forgotten.

Along with the volunteers placing the stones, they also created a memorial garden, with names to those being remembered and a gravel walkway that resembles what was originally in place when the cemetery opened more than 100 years ago says Marvin Harris, the owner of the cemetery that he purchased in 2020.