SHERBROOKE, QUE. -- A dedicated group in Quebec’s Eastern Townships is trying to make things rights after a veterans' cemetery has fallen into disrepair.

A total of 77 veterans are laid to rest in a tiny corner of St-Michel cemetery in Sherbrooke. Most were living in poverty when they died.

“If we can talk to each other today, it's mostly because of them. If they're buried over there, it’s because they were poor. They couldn't pay for themselves a big monument,” said Robert Groulx of the Eastern Townships Veterans' Committee, and a veteran himself.

There's now a push to spruce up the plots, making them even and uniform and install a Canadian flag and signposts to show that soldiers are buried there.

The work is expected to cost about $20,000 – but eight more veterans were found in a common grave, which will cost another $16,000 to have them removed and buried in the cemetery, as well as create more space for more plots by cutting down some trees.

Also on the Eastern Townships Veterans' Committee is Gilles Viger's father, who fought in World War II. This effort helps him feel closer to a man he didn't know much about.

“I didn't get to be with my dad as much as I wanted to when he was alive. He had all sorts of problems related to when he came back from World War II,” he said. 

The committee is receiving some funding from the Last Post Fund, which helps with maintenance of veteran graves, but much of the cost will have to be covered by donations.

Some of the work is expected to start in the spring, and Groulx hopes to see it done before he joins his brothers. 

“I wanted to spend all my money to be able to have no money when i die to be buried over here with the boys,” he said. “Here I know that once a year the boys come around and come to salute us, so I know if I do get buried here I will have visitors at least once a year.”