ANDERSON TOWNSHIP — Anyone who visits Hillcrest Cemetery now will know where Wilber A. Rollins has come to rest.

        On Saturday morning, volunteers gently tapped a wooden white cross into the earth right where he is buried, a grave site that has been without a marker for the past 70 years.

        Mr. Rollins, born Jan. 2, 1892, served as an Army private with the 317th Engineers during World War I. He enlisted in October 1917 and was discharged in March 1919.

        He drowned June 27, 1933, at age 41.

        Mr. Rollins is one of about 250 military veterans at the troubled cemetery who finally were honored with markers — white crosses made by Anderson Hills Kiwanis — on Saturday as more than 200 volunteers fanned out across the hillsides and gave a spiritual lift to the 1,300 veterans — 849 of them African-American — buried here.

        “I walked the area just last week,” said Michael Goldberg of Anderson Township, one of the volunteers who came with his daughter, Arielle, 14.

        “There was a spirit about the place, and there is today. As our group was putting the crosses in, we were calling them out by name. Mr. Johnson goes here, Mr. Caldwell over there. We made it a point to call the cross by name, not by number. It was a very personal connection with the people who are buried here.”

        The volunteers were organized by Russ Jackson, a township trustee, and the Anderson Township Leadership Council, as part of Make a Difference Day.

        The cemetery, off Sutton Road about a mile north of Coney Island, has been neglected over the years, mostly because its ownership was unclear. Many of the African-American veterans buried there had been denied burial elsewhere.

        By early afternoon, white crosses blanketed a portion of one hillside, and volunteers walked among the standing headstones power-spraying them, blasting away years of grime and algae. Weeds and vines that had grown chest-high were chopped away, revealing a pocketful of tattered, soiled, cob-webbed miniature American flags planted ages ago.

        Most of the unmarked graves belonged to WWI veterans, such as Clarence Johnson, Horace Hunley, Sampson Herndon, Roland Young, Cleve Jones and Homer Hill.

        “This matters to me,” said Brig. Gen. Kenneth Robinson, an African-American and commander of the 16th Engineer Brigade of the Ohio Army National Guard, headquartered in Columbus.

        If approved by the federal government, the National Guard will come in and solve the erosion problem at the cemetery, as well as restore headstones.

        “Whether African-American or not, it's the right thing to do. The key is these people have served their country.”

        U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, came to look over the work.

        He noted the dual significance in honoring veterans, many of whom are African-American, in the wake of Cincinnati's racial discord and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        “It's an opportunity for the community to come together and support the military and help heal the community,” said Mr. Portman.

        “It's also a poignant moment with our troops overseas. The least we can do back home is make sure our veterans are properly taken care of.”

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