Greenfield man on a mission to restore veteran markers

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GREENFIELD — Rick Brown has it down to a science: Scrub. Sand. Wax. Repeat.

The Greenfield resident and Army veteran of the Vietnam War has spent the past six years restoring hundreds of bronze markers and headstones of Hoosier veterans. He travels from marker to marker in Indiana cemeteries in his all-terrain wheelchair, most days in the summer heat.

Brown, driven by his persistence to give back to his country and honor fallen veterans, keeps upping the ante of his cause. Last year, Brown, who’s the “point-man” for the nonprofit Mission: Restore Bronze Indiana, restored markers of all 49 Indiana Medal of Honor recipients. For 2019, he’s pushing himself to refurbish the memorial of each of the more than 1,600 Vietnam veterans buried in Indiana.

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But Brown can’t do it alone, he said. That’s why he’s hoping to recruit members of veterans service organizations to help out. Last month, he trained a few members of American Legion Post 119 as well as other area veterans. He wants to not only continue restoring markers at no cost to the families of the veterans, but to teach others how to do it on their own.

After an hour or so of Brown’s coaching last month, the volunteers immediately started to refurbish several headstones and bronze markers at Park Cemetery in Greenfield, scrubbing and sanding away.

“It’s like wildfire,” Brown said about the restoration process. “You give them a taste and they’re off and running. They love it.”

There are two types of bronze markers, Brown said. One needs a brushing off of dirt, sanding of the filigree and lettering and also a wax that seals the bronze. The other type of marker, which typically turns green in color, has to be cleaned with a wire brush and repainted with a special epoxy, Brown said. Once the paint dries, he sands the letters and seals it with a clear protective coat.

Gravestones require a bit more elbow grease. Brown scrapes the algae and lichens off the stone and then scrubs in a biodegradable solution called D-2 that cleans it. One of the cleaning agents in the solution is activated by ultraviolet light, he said. When the sunlight hits the stone, it’ll start brightening the marker after a few minutes.

“The Lord says if you do 50% of the work, he’ll do the rest,” Brown said. “The sun just works it out.”

Cleaning grave markers of fallen soldiers wasn’t on Brown’s radar when he retired from a 20-year career with Simon Property Group in 2001. Instead, he said the “old breaks” of his body decided to come back and “haunt” him.

In 1969, shortly after his first of two tours to Vietnam, a car traveling 70 miles per hour struck Brown while he was temporarily assigned to a base in Blanding, Utah. The impact left his back broken in four spots and shattered his leg in 134 places. Brown spent one year and eight months in the hospital.

More than three decades later, Brown had another battle to overcome. He began taking opiates for the past pain that flared up, and he trapped himself in his home for four years while he took the medication. After his doctor advised him to join a program designed to ease veterans off opiates, Brown completed the six-month class and stopped taking pain medication, replacing it with electrotherapy and tai chi.

A few years later, Brown met a man on Facebook from Mission: Restore Bronze in Arizona, and it piqued his interest. Brown later restored his father’s grave in Richmond. His father had served as a bombardier on a B-17 in World War II.

“I went over and did his marker, and then I did one next to it,” Brown said. “And then I did the one next to that. I thought, you know, I can do this a lot of different places.”

Over the past six years, Brown said he’s visited 600 cemeteries in the state. Leading up to Memorial Day, Brown said he’s restored a few more markers in Greenfield and also cleaned some in Knightstown, Morristown and Martinsville.

Brian Smith and Chuck Gill, both members of American Legion Post 119, volunteered their time to learn from Brown last month. Smith, a veteran of the Army, said he plans to keep restoring markers and assist in meeting Brown’s goal of cleaning each Vietnam veteran’s grave by Veterans Day.

Gill, who served in the Navy, previously restored eight markers at a nearby pioneer cemetery with his daughter. The American Legion post in Greenfield is working on uncovering its history for not only its members to realize, he said, but to share with the community.

Jim Floyd also joined Brown at the training day. Floyd, the commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War at Ben Harrison Camp, has for years been cleaning headstones belonging to Hoosier veterans of the Civil War. He and Brown are constantly exchanging tricks and tips about marker restoration, he said. Floyd said their work goes beyond shiny bronze.

“If we can’t honor those who have fought to defend our freedom, then who can we honor?” he said.

As the dirt and grime washes off the markers, Floyd said the memories of the veterans who died will shine through as a reminder of the sacrifice put forward to make the United States great.

“Let’s learn from the history of these heroes so we can teach future generations,” he said.