While thousands of frustrated park service employees sit at home waiting anxiously for the shutdown to end, one private citizen has taken it upon himself to keep DC clean whether politicians like it or not.

Chris Cox of South Carolina could be seen popping up at various memorials over the last few days with his trusty chainsaw, lawnmower, and Palmetto State flag in tow.

Calling his one-man-army the "Memorial Militia," Cox has tasked himself with making the city's parks and malls look "presentable" ahead of the Million Vet March scheduled for this weekend.

"These are our memorials. Do they think that we’re just going to let them go to hell? No," Cox told All-News 99.1. "If they shut down our memorials, we’re still going to take the trash out, we’re going to clean the windows, we’re going to cut the grass, we’re going to pull the weeds, we’re going to do the tree work."

Though the Park Police eventually shut down Cox's attempt to tidy up around the Lincoln Memorial and asked him to "disband the militia," he told the CBS Radio affiliate he hopes other volunteers will join him in his mission to clean up Washington, both literally and figuratively.

[photo via Annapolis on Facebook, video via The Post and Courier]