For Christine Untrauer, honoring fallen veterans is more than volunteer work — it is a calling rooted in gratitude and deep respect for those who served.
In Portage County, Ohio, Untrauer has taken on a quiet but powerful mission: locating the graves of veterans who were buried without markers and raising the funds needed to ensure their service is finally recognized. Her goal is simple yet profound — to make sure no veteran is ever forgotten.
“These are the people who gave us our freedom,” Untrauer told ABC affiliate WEWS. “No veteran should ever lie in an unmarked grave.”
Her commitment is deeply personal. Untrauer’s father, Norbert Freund, served during World War II aboard the USS Topeka, and her husband dedicated 20 years of his life to the U.S. Air Force. Surrounded by stories of service and sacrifice, Untrauer feels drawn to this work with a sense of purpose she describes as undeniable.
“I truly believe this is what I was meant to do,” she said.
So far, Untrauer has identified 49 veterans buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Ravenna. Four of them rest in the cemetery’s potter’s field — a section reserved for those who had no means for a proper burial or died while traveling, often alone and unnoticed. In total, the potter’s field contains 130 individuals.
While the Department of Veterans Affairs provides grave markers at no cost with proper documentation, installation requires a small fee. Untrauer is determined that families should never have to bear that burden themselves.
“I don’t want the families to have to pay for it,” she said. “That responsibility belongs to all of us.”
Among the veterans she helped honor was Willie Ross Dennis, who served in South Vietnam in January 1968 and died at just 21 years old. At the time of his death, veterans buried in private cemeteries were not guaranteed grave markers.
“Back then, if you were buried in a military cemetery, you received a marker,” Untrauer explained to Fox affiliate WJW. “But not if the cemetery was private.”
Working alongside the Ravenna American Legion Post, Untrauer successfully secured a Veterans Affairs marker for Dennis and helped organize a dedication ceremony — a long-overdue moment of recognition for a young man who gave his life in service to his country.
Her efforts have since grown into the Veterans Marker Project, through which she is now searching all 29 cemeteries across Portage County to identify other forgotten veterans.
Maple Grove Cemetery superintendent Mark Gabriel expressed deep appreciation for Untrauer’s dedication. His own great-great-grandfather, a Civil War veteran, is buried there with a marked grave.
“It brings me joy to see these veterans finally recognized,” Gabriel said. “They deserve it.”
Through patience, persistence, and compassion, Christine Untrauer is restoring names to headstones and dignity to history — ensuring that the sacrifices of America’s veterans are remembered, honored, and never left unmarked again.
