ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- The first burials at the Hollywood Cemetery in Orange City were recorded in 1870, and more than a century later, an unlikely group dressed in leather biker jackets is hoping to preserve the cemetery's rich history.
- Motorcycle group restoring vets' headstones
- Restoration at Hollywood Cemetery
- Group with Veteran Enforcers Motorcycle Association
“Looking at the years and thinking, 'Okay what happened during that time, during those years,” said Damian Hendricks, a retired military veteran and Chapter Ambassador of Veteran Enforcers Motorcycle Association.
Braving the Florida humidity in mid-August, Hendricks and over a dozen members of VEMO rode their motorcycles to the Hollywood cemetery for their call of duty.
The assignment: restore the headstones of veterans laid to rest at the cemetery.
VEMO rode into the cemetery Sunday morning on their motorcycles ready to do their part in preserving a part of history.
“Being a history major in college and seeing some of that stuff, it’s like, wow, it’s unbelievable,” said Hendricks.
For some, a cemetery is one of the richest places on earth. There are countless dreams and ideas that were never realized.
“In this cemetery there are confederate soldiers back from the confederate war. My father is buried here and he was a cop in Washington, D.C. So it means a lot to do this for everybody,” John Hamel, Commander of VEMA Deltona Chapter.
Hamel told Spectrum News 13 he got the idea to restore the headstones after watching videos of others who have made it their mission to clean up the tombstones of fallen U.S. soldiers.