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Sposato Landscape tends to Arlington National Cemetery

July 30, 2017

For 17 years, Tony Sposato, owner of Sposato Landscape, has donated his company's labor, time and equipment to take part in Arlington Cemetery's Day of Renewal and Remembrance. The volunteer event, sponsored by the National Association of Landscape Professionals, brings over 500 landscape volunteers from across the country to do a landscape makeover of the national cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their families. Service to country is the common thread that binds all who are remembered and honored at Arlington.

"This is very personal," said Sposato, who is celebrating his 25th year in business. "The people here fought to protect and defend the freedoms we enjoy today. They also won freedom for millions of people around the world. It's the least we can do for them. I don't know what it's like to be in combat. But these people do, and many of them paid the ultimate price for our freedom."

This year's donation included the work of six Sposato employees, as well as several push spreaders and two tractors. The group spread lime over 40 acres of cemetery grounds.

Tim McMahon, Sposato turf manager, was captain of the group which consisted of Sposato's team as well as another dozen volunteers from other landscaping companies from across the country. "The lime acts as a sweetener for the acidic soil," said McMahon. "It allows the nutrients to flow into the grass to make it thicker and healthier."

Sposato's son Freddie, 16, has volunteered at several Arlington days of remembrance. The sacrifice of the people buried there was not lost on him. "The people buried here fought to make sure we have the freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom to vote," he said. "Many people in other countries don't have these freedoms."

Arlington Cemetery is composed of land that once belonged to George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington and step-grandson of George Washington. In 1857, Custis willed the 1,100-acre property to his daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who was married to Robert E. Lee. After the Lee family vacated the estate in 1861 at the onset of the Civil War, federal troops occupied the property as a camp and headquarters. As the number of Civil War casualties was outpacing other local Washington, D.C.-based cemeteries, the property became a burial location. The first military burial took place May 13, 1864, for Private William Christman. A short time later, the War Department officially set aside approximately 200 acres of the property to use as a cemetery.

"It was very emotional seeing all those gravesites and knowing what they did for us," said Tim Smeal, a Sposato yard employee, as he filled up his spreader and continued to spread lime over this most hallowed ground.

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