Cemetery Cleanup Project

Atlanta Chapter 5 is honored to coordinate volunteer efforts to clean up the Linwood Cemetery which is home to the Sergeant Rodney Davis Memorial. Sergeant Rodney Davis is one of 6 African Americans who received the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. The City of Macon did not allow black descendants to be buried inside the city limits in 1967. Davis was buried in an all-black cemetery outside the city. About 2010, several white Marines were driving by Macon, including one man who was saved by Davis. They stopped to pay their respects at his gravesite and were angered to find that the wooden monument to Davis was rotting, and the cemetery was covered in weeds and had many headstones falling over. They removed all the weeds around Davis's grave and many graves around it, and cleaned up a section of the cemetery before leaving. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Association was informed and donations were arranged. Civilians and other Marines, families, and surviving spouses accumulated over $60,000 and a large, granite monument was built at Davis's grave site. Several times a year, a gathering is organized and the entire cemetery is weeded and tended to. Donations are still needed for equipment and other items needed for volunteers to continue to perform upkeep of the cemetery.