A once-forgotten cemetery honoring veterans of World Wars was rediscovered and restored by the Kilmarnock Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, culminating in a rededication ceremony Sunday, Nov. 17.

The burial ground, hidden beneath decades of overgrowth, was located earlier this year on church property in Kilmarnock, about 75 miles east of Richmond. The cemetery originally belonged to Moreau and Isabella Nickens, African American landowners in the late 19th century. The site includes about 23 graves, among them Army World War I veteran James Carroll Barber and Navy World War II veteran John Robert Webb. 

Church members and community volunteers spent months clearing brush and restoring the site. The memorial service began with prayers and a history of the Nickens family, followed by a reading of the names of the interred. The ceremony included a parade to the cemetery, where flags were placed on veterans’ graves.

The event brought together more than 100 attendees, including descendants of those buried at the site, to honor the lives of the veterans and their families.