McKenzie “Mickey” Weiss was awarded the Clinton County Veterans Day Community Veterans Awareness And/Or Care Volunteer of the Year Award from the Clinton County Veterans Day Committee in November for her efforts.
Courtesy photo
BLANCHESTER — A resident is making sure the final resting places for local veterans are kept in good condition.
McKenzie “Mickey” Weiss, of Blanchester, runs the Facebook page “Got Your Six Restoration & Preservation.” On this page, she documents her efforts to clean up and preserve the headstones of Blanchester veterans.
Weiss told the News Journal she does this to help maintain the memory of local veterans. She started this journey back in April 2022.
“I really enjoy going into cemeteries. I always find them peaceful,” she said. “I had noticed that a lot of our veterans’ headstones were so dirty that you couldn’t read them. I wanted to find a way to clean them so others can learn about their stories. Because we have some fascinating veterans that are buried here.”
Linda Mider, president of the American Legion Auxiliary Marion Unit 179, Blanchester, first wrote about Weiss in August 2022. In her story, Weiss had the goal of cleaning 100 veteran tombstones before her birthday in September. At the time of its publication, Weiss had 75 cleaned.
According to Weiss, she has now cleaned roughly 170 headstones. She has found each one of those tasks rewarding and empowering.
“You’ll have a headstone that’s completely black, you can’t read a word on it. But you put in the work and you restore it to this beautiful white marble stone that’s there in honor of someone who fought for our country,” she said.
On the “Got Your Six” page, she’ll post before and after pictures of the graves she’s worked on. Some of the posts will include a photo of the veteran and some history about them. Will Monsinger, a local historian, has helped her with getting details and photos about the veterans. Monsinger also uploads those items to the respective pages on findagrave.com.
In November, Weiss was awarded the Clinton County Veterans Day Community Veterans Awareness and/or Care Volunteer of the Year Award for her efforts.
“(The Veterans Day committee) really surprised me with that. I didn’t expect to receive anything like that. It was really humbling and I was very honored,” she said.
Looking ahead, she advised she’d love to branch out and clean the headstones in other local cemeteries. She would also love to teach locals the proper method of cleaning them.
Reach John Hamilton at 937-382-2574
