An American Civil War surgeon and Navy veteran was honored with a headstone ceremony at Old Gray Cemetery on Saturday.
The Sons of Union of the Civil War, Boy Scouts Troop 800, the Junior ROTC at William Blount, and the East Tennessee Reenactment Group came together to host a headstone ceremony in honor of the veteran Celso Pierrucci.
Family members and others from the Knoxville community came out to remember Pierucci's service for the United States more than 100 years after his death.
Celso's great-grandson said honoring his grandfather Saturday meant the world to him and his family.
"He got honored the way he should have gotten honored," Larry Pierucci, Celso's great-grandson, said. "All the engagements he was in in the Civil War, he finally got honored for that too. It's great."
Larry says his great-grandfather was a large part of Knoxville's history. According to archives, Celso was born in Italy in 1829. He immigrated to United States, and enlisted as a medical officer in the Navy in 1861.
He spent the last years of his life in Knoxville with his son, who happened to be the director at the Bijou Theatre.