Wreaths Across America ceremony scheduled in Greene County
Captain David Shaw, squadron commander of the Greene County Civil Air Patrol, first heard about Wreaths Across America about nine years ago.
That was when someone at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Cecil Township, Washington County, contacted him to see if he would be willing to volunteer with its project to place Christmas wreaths on the graves of the cemetery’s veterans.
Captain Shaw was involved in a World War II living history event at Fort Indiantown Gap in eastern Pennsylvania, and the contact at the cemetery thought he might be a good candidate to assist in carrying out its wreath program. Since then, he has participated in 60 to 70 percent of the annual wreath-laying projects at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies and once helped remove the wreaths at the end of January at the cemetery at Fort Indiantown Gap.
About four or five months ago, he decided to initiate a similar project for the veterans’ graves in Greenmount Cemetery in Waynesburg, where an estimated 200 veterans are buried.
“We advertised for sponsors on Facebook, and the squadron held fundraisers outside the Giant Eagle and Wal-Mart in Waynesburg,” he said. “Word of mouth helped get even more sponsors.”
At the moment, the squadron raised enough funds to place 40 wreaths at $15 apiece on veterans’ graves at Greenmount Cemetery. Now, the public is invited to attend a special Wreaths Across America ceremony at noon Dec. 16 at the Greene County Courthouse in Waynesburg. The ceremony will include a speaker, the playing of “Taps,” a color guard presentation and possibly a vocalist and aerial flyover.
Similar programs in cemeteries across the U.S. are scheduled at noon on Dec. 16 with the reading of a script written by Wreaths Across America for the event. Following the ceremony in Waynesburg, the public is invited to help place the wreaths on the veterans’ graves at Greenmount.
A similar Wreaths Across America campaign has been organized for the last seven years by the Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club, an organization that has placed wreaths on the graves of veterans buried in Laurel Point Cemetery in Carmichaels. In Connellsville, the CAHS Patriots have been involved in the campaign for 10 years, and participants will be present at the remembrance ceremony Dec. 16 at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
Wreaths Across America started in 1992 when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. in Maine, decided to deliver a surplus of wreaths near the end of the holiday season to Arlington National Cemetery, a place he first saw as a 12-year-old paper boy when he won a contest to visit the nation’s capital, according to the Wreaths Across America website.
Worcester received assistance for the project from U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, of Maine, and other individuals and organizations, including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War posts.
The website reported the tradition continued quietly until 2005 when a photograph of the tombstones covered with snow and adorned with wreaths appeared on the internet. Thousands of requests poured in of people wanting to help.
The movement spread with Wreaths Across America forming in 2007. The nonprofit’s mission is “Remember our fallen U.S. veterans. Honor those who serve. Teach our children the value of freedom.”