During the Great Depreciation, graves registration received national focus as a WPA. Grave registration enables interested parties to locate the final resting place of each veteran. The VFW Post 1617 and American Legion Post 9 off in May 2024 to identify, uncover, clean and record the graves of veterans buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery. This work continues on into 2025 with the goal of completing the list by Veterans Day 2025. As of August, this effort has identified 1,535 Forest Hill Veterans.
Each Memorial Day, post members along with volunteers from the community place flags on the graves of veterans in the Forest Hill Cemetery. The tradition of decorating the graves continues into the holidays with the placement of live wreaths on the grave of Medal of Honor recipient William Tabor and at each of the four VFW and American Legion sections in the cemetery. Wreaths are also placed in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Londonderry, the LCpl Michael Geary Bridge and all Derry and East Derry War Monuments and at the VFW Post 1617. An example of a typical wreath placement ceremony which was held at the VFW section in the Forest Hill Cemetery is provided here Memorial Day Ceremony, Forest Hill Cemetery, 2023.
For more on the grave registration project, view the video Derry Honors Fallen Heroes. You are also invited visit the Forest Hill Cemetery Veterans Facebook Page.