This year, the front stretch of Duncan Heights Cemetery in McCandless is neatly mowed, and bright American flags flank the curved stone wall that was perhaps the only attempt its owner ever made at some measure of grace for the last resting place of veterans.
Kathleen Munhall, who lives in an adjacent apartment complex, guides a visitor over the rough ground.
Years of neglect had turned the cemetery into an overgrown swamp, flooded by garbage dumped in the stream that runs through it. Depressions formed when cheap caskets collapsed or paupers were buried only in bags, she said.
Ms. Munhall said she didn't know how many people were buried there. Many civilian graves were unmarked, and all but the hardiest military markers suffered the ravages of time and vandals.
"There wasn't a lot of care taken to how they were buried. They would put two or four people in a grave. It makes it hard to research who is buried here," she said.
Ms. Munhall is chairman of the newly formed Duncan Heights Cemetery Association, which will take over ownership of the six-acre property that the township now concedes is long abandoned. Many prior efforts to aid the cemetery were foiled by a deed that could not be cleared. Its owner died in 1961 -- the last year of any burials -- and the other shareholders vanished with all records.
Her group has plans to clean, survey and restore the cemetery, most of which remains a nearly impenetrable labyrinth of brambles, fallen trees and brush. But before they can begin to raise thousands of dollars to do that, they need to incorporate as a non-profit organization. The papers are ready, but they don't have enough money to pay the filing fee.
"We're stalled for lack of $550," she said.
Still, much progress has been made since last Memorial Day, when a story ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Descriptions of the neglected graves galvanized elderly veterans, and helped to mobilize Boy Scouts and the Air Force Junior ROTC unit at North Allegheny High School.
Jeremy Howell, 17, a member of that unit, has made it his mission to clear dumped tires, broken glass and fallen trees -- cutting paths for others to follow.
Bob Munhall, Kathleen's brother, a Vietnam veteran and commander of the North Hills VFW district, had asked him to come take a look. He was so appalled that he enlisted his ROTC unit, some Boy Scouts, and the Evergreen Fire Department, where he also volunteers.
"When I saw the mess that the cemetery was in, I knew there was something I had to do," said Jeremy, who was out at the cemetery on the afternoon of his senior prom. Early on they respectfully filled bags with the tattered remains of American flags that had long ago been left to rot on the swampy ground.
Donald Wagner, a retired Shaler police officer who served in the Navy during the Korean War, read last year's story and has been mowing the lawn ever since. This week he came to put flags up for Memorial Day -- a task his VFW post has taken on -- and discovered that someone else had already placed flags at the entrance. He has no idea who, but it is a sign of the growing commitment to care for the cemetery.
"Normally I don't get involved in things like this, but reading about this cemetery, it hurt me right here," he said, indicating his heart.
For a long time its main champions were George and Mary Bigelow, who live behind the cemetery and spent years researching the graves. They tried to mobilize everyone from McCandless township to Allegheny County Memorial Park -- which is right across the street -- to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do something about it. Until the deed issue was resolved, they were blocked at every turn,
A key ally they enlisted in 1999 is state Sen. Jane Orie, of McCandless, who has been relentless in prodding various local and government groups to get involved. She is not a board member because she doesn't want to politicize it, she said, but she believes this is the first time that all the right volunteers are in place to get something done. There are veterans' organizations, including Soldiers & Sailors Hall, genealogists, even a grave digger.
When she first visited in 1999, Ms. Orie said, "I was sickened to see that this was the resting place of fallen heroes. I felt it was my duty and obligation to honor them and to do everything I could to treat them the way they should have been treated," she said.
"It has taken a long time, but I think that in the hearts of all the individuals, we all felt this was a way to pay them back, to give them a cemetery fitting for heroes."
Ms. Munhall weeded her way along machete-chopped paths to a group of the oldest stones of the cemetery. They belong to veterans of the Spanish-American War, though they have clearly been moved from where they once stood. She believes that local teens shoved them into a row to use as seats for drinking parties.
Her brother indicated one that he believes belonged to a black unit that fought in that war. It bears the name of Ben F. Blakely, 1892 to Oct. 21, 1933. Most likely he fell on very hard times to end up in this cemetery, which the county used as a pauper's field. The last military graves belong mostly to veterans of World War II. The Bigelows identified some from a unit that liberated a Nazi concentration camp.
Ms. Munhall got involved because, when her brother told her about it, she realized it was the overgrown swamp she could see from her apartment. If they can just get their incorporation papers filed, her association has big plans for it.
After they finish clearing it, they want to bring in special equipment to identify the grave sites. A skilled group is ready to launch genealogical research to identify those buried in them. The Matthews Bronze Co. has offered to donate a memorial plaque for the site.
"I personally feel that these people need to be laid to rest. This is not OK. And it's not just for the military veterans who are buried here. There are civilians also, and they all need to be treated with respect," she said.
Annie O'Neill, Post-GazetteBob Munhall, left, and his sister Kathleen Munhall have been working to restore Duncan Heights Cemetery in McCandless. The long abandoned cemetery is the final resting place for veterans dating as far back as the Spanish-American War.
Click photo for larger image.
First Published: May 27, 2007, 1:30 a.m.
