Matthew Newberry, 13, lays a wreath Dec. 10 on a grave in Union Cemetery in Leesburg as part of the Wreaths Across America ceremony.

Newberry, a seventh-grader at Belmont Ridge Middle School, took on the project to help earn his Eagle Scout with Ashburn Troop 2970. He is currently a Life Scout with the troop.
As part of the project, the teen, along with other Boy Scouts and the Leesburg Civil Air Patrol, mapped the cemetery – an endeavor that took months – to find the location of the veterans’ graves.

They also went door-to-door, asking for donations for the graves and speaking with residents, many whom they discovered had relatives buried in the cemetery. In total, 120 wreaths were placed in the cemetery on Dec. 10.