Airmen show respect to fallen servicemembers through community service

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SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  To show their support of fallen servicemembers from wars past and present, a small group of Airmen volunteers worked to ensure their brethrens' headstones were in proper formation for Veterans Day.

The Airmen, assigned to the Air Force News Agency, straightened and reset the gravesite markers at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery here Nov. 9 to honor fellow veterans.

The process, referred to as bumping and running, aligns all the headstones so the markers stay in proper rows and columns. The ground in and around San Antonio contains large amounts of clay, which cause the markers to settle and fall out of alignment.

"Each headstone represents that vet and we as veterans, we like to look good," said Horace Ward, cemetery caretaker.

To keep the markers looking neat and orderly, military volunteers periodically visit the cemetery, which encompasses more than 154 acres and has nearly 120,000 grave markers for the nearly 50,000 fallen heroes and their family members buried at the cemetery.

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