Vicksburg National Military Park Living History Program volunteers wrapped up the summer season Tuesday.

VNMP recognized a volunteer of the month after the last cannon firing of the season. Ranger Jake Koch presented volunteer Curtis Gordon with a VNMP coin for his service to the park.

“He’s one of our oldest volunteers,” Koch said. “He’s a new one and been a really good one too.”

Typically volunteers are high school and college students, however Gordon is considerably older.

“My daughter, Katie is out here volunteering this year,” Gordon said. “I’m disabled now, so I don’t have to work. I have a lot of time on my hands and I thought it would be a good idea for me to come out here and volunteer at the park, since it’s been a big part of my life. I started coming here when I was barely able to walk and have been coming ever since.”

The park started recognizing Volunteers of the Month last year with a park coin, and has a plaque they will soon install inside the visitors’ center.

“The one I gave him is the USS Cairo coin,” Koch said. “We will also be recognizing volunteers on a yearly basis, and we have a plaque that we will put up in the visitors’ center when we get it inscribed.”

Since June 1, the 10 to 12 volunteers have endured high temperatures and biting insects five days a week to give visitors to VNMP a glimpse into how ordinary soldiers lived and fought during the siege of Vicksburg.

“It’s been a good season,” Koch said. “It’s been hot, June wasn’t bad, but July has been miserable.”

The park hopes to maintain a living history presence throughout the year.

“On weekends during August and September we’ll be out at the Shirley House doing stuff out there,” he said. “We’ll be doing something once a month out there, just so we have something all year round.”

“What happens so often is that our seasonal rangers leave after the summer and everything sort of shuts down,” Koch said.

The annual Memorial Day weekend concert has been getting bigger, and the park is making changes to the Soldiers Through the Ages Program that typically is held during the same weekend.

“We’ll be moving that program to Veterans’ Day,” Koch said.