The road to becoming an Eagle Scout requires long hours of selfless service to the community. Since the creation of the rank in 1911, only 4 percent of Boy Scouts have been awarded the badge. For Austin Erich, of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, the service project that led him to scout success was one that honored the forgotten veterans of the Civil War in his local area.
Making sure that these soldiers who fought for the cause of the Union were honored became Austin’s way of earning his badge and making a difference.
Austin’s father, Chris, was proud that his son, who plays football in addition to his activities with Boy Scouts of America troop 93, recognized that no American soldiers are too old to be remembered—even those who died 150 years ago.
Once Austin realized that there were many such cemeteries and forgotten soldiers in the area, he began his project of fundraising and restoration. The scout worked at three different cemeteries in the Ridgway area, Pine Grove, Saint Leo’s, and Thayers. In addition to the service aspect, Austin has a longstanding interest in military history and hopes to one day become a history teacher.
Dad Chris Erich is a scout leader himself and encouraged Austin every step of the way. The teenager started by doing research on the history of the cemeteries and the soldiers buried there. He identified 55 different graves that needed fixing up and then raised money for their repair the good old-fashioned American way: a hot dog stand.
Austin didn’t just commit himself to raising over $7,000 to complete the project, he got involved with mixing cement to repair damaged graves as part of the overall 360 hours he spent on it.
This level of engagement reflects Austin’s feelings about the importance of the military to the country. “He has a lot of pride for people who have served in the military,” dad Chris Erich explained to the Courier Express. Whenever Austin would happen to see men and women in uniform, “he would always go up to them and shake their hands.”
After all the hard work, Austin finally completed the requirement to move from “Life Scout” to “Eagle Scout.” Dad and scoutmaster Chris Erich couldn’t have been more proud of his accomplishment. “He really lived up to his dream, and made 12 years of commitment.”
Austin has joined other scouts who have made the restoration of cemeteries part of their work in serving the community, including 16-year-old Griffin Burchard, of Alexandria, Virginia, who devoted his Eagle Scout project to restoring the Douglass Memorial Cemetery, named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The cemetery, which had fallen into disrepair, contained the graves of almost 2,000 African Americans buried between 1890 and 1975. Many of these would have been the children of slaves, and some were also veterans.
The restoration was completed in time for the 400th anniversary of the first 20 enslaved Africans who were brought to Virginia in 1619. Spending long hours fundraising and getting his fellow boy and girl scouts to help clean up the cemetery, Burchard was inspired by the achievements of Frederick Douglass, who was born a slave and became a free man.
