Although incomplete, the chart is a doorway to save history. In an interview with the West Volusia Beacon earlier this year, Friend was quoted saying, “Kids and relatives might now at least have a chance to find that grandfather or other relative from this rough position chart that includes 223 names; and over 50 of the vets whose headstones were raised up out of the sugar sand now are in the sunshine for a few more decades,” Friend said. “It is certain some were lost forever, but we saved many from total obscurity,” he added.
Although many of these Vets didn’t lose their lives in combat, the Union Cemetery is a great way to honor soldiers that were almost lost to history.