NORFOLK, Va. — Fifteen-year-old Boy Scout Johnny Hill died in a fire, decades ago, in November 1970.
His body rested in Norfolk Cemeteries without a grave marker, until now.
Thirteen-year-old fellow Boy Scout Jacob Copeland said he wanted to make sure Johnny isn’t forgotten, so he placed a headstone on Johnny’s grave, with the help of the cemetery who donated the marker.
“People needed to know who he was,” Jacob said. "They had a map that he was buried here but he never had a grave marker."
According to Jacob's mother, Mary Copeland, Johnny’s mother died a few years before he did, which might explain why no one was there to place a grave marker.
"From what we had found out through research is they think the dad was really distraught. He just couldn’t deal with losing his wife and then his son, so he actually left the area," Mary Copeland said.
"That’s the only thing we could find out, we did speak to some distant relatives and they thought the same thing.”
At a dedication service today, Jacob’s family and Boy Scout Troop 490 came together to remember Johnny.
“I think it was a little bit more personal for Jacob," Copeland said. "We had a family member who was in a fire. Luckily did not perish but it meant a lot to Jacob to remember somebody that was hurt.”
It’s all part of his Eagle Scout Service Project – something Jacob says Johnny never got a chance to do.
“I wanted to carry on the legacy for him and others who couldn’t have done it,” Jacob said.
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