Annual wreath-laying ceremony planned in Greene County
Wreaths Across America, a group with roots that date back to 1992, sees to it that the Christmas holidays don’t go by without a memorial tribute to our nation’s veterans.
Each year the nonprofit organizes a wreath-laying ceremony the third Saturday in December. Over time, the event has grown larger to the point where wreaths will be placed on the graves of fallen veterans at more than 1,400 locations across the country and overseas on Dec. 15.
In Greene County, the Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club (CWCC), along with the American Legion Post 400 and the Carmichaels Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3491, will take part in the Wreaths Across America campaign for the eighth consecutive year. In a special ceremony that will take place at noon on Dec. 15 at Laurel Point Cemetery in Carmichaels, the CWCC is hoping participants will place a total of 339 wreaths on the graves of veterans buried in the cemetery, which include some who fought in the War of 1812.
The program will open at 11:30 a.m. near the cemetery monument with spirited military music performed by the Carmichaels American Legion Band, led by Frank Ricco. Before the wreaths are placed on the graves by attendees and a local cub scout troop, Peyton Armstrong, 15, will sing “The Star Spangled Banner” and lead in the recitation of the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
To see that each veteran in the cemetery gets a special live holiday wreath, the CWCC is seeking sponsorship from businesses, organizations, churches and individuals. The sponsorship deadline is Nov. 17.
“Each year, our donors look forward to the event,” said Andrea Semenoff. “Even before we put notices about this year’s ceremony in local papers, we’d already received several donations.”
Semenoff said the donations often arrive with little notes inside thanking club members for their efforts. In the past, they’ve received $100 and more from several donors, including one from a donor in Maine whose parents are buried in Laurel Point. While the donor said her parents are not veterans, her two brothers are, and that’s one of the reasons she decided to finance the cost of 10 wreaths.
If the CWCC receives money for more wreaths than are needed at Laurel Point, members place the extras at various veteran memorials in Greene County including ones at Waynesburg University, the county courthouse, Crucible, Nemacolin, Mather and Clarksville.
Each year, Wreaths Across America sends seven additional wreaths, one for each branch of the armed services (Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines) and one for our nation’s POW/MIAs. All the wreaths continue decorating the graves of veterans in Laurel Point until February when the cemetery caretaker and local boy scouts begin removing them.
“The first year we participated in the program, we started late and only got the seven wreaths on stands from Wreaths Across America,” Semenoff said. “In year two, several sponsors and members laid wreaths on the graves in the older part of the cemetery because we felt they might not have a living relative to remember them.”
Thanks to the generosity of organizations, businesses, churches and individuals, many of which donate every year, the CWCC has been able to lay a wreath on every veteran’s grave since the third year of participation.
Like every year, the annual ceremony has a theme. This year’s theme, “Be Their Witness,” takes its inspiration from the 2009 drama “Taking Chance.” The drama is based on the experiences of U.S. Marine Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl who escorted the body of a fallen Marine, Private First Class Chance Phelps back to his hometown in Wyoming from the Iraq War.
“I was deeply impacted by this story and found it difficult at times to fathom the burden this young man carried in his task,” said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America. “Lt. Col. Strobl volunteered to be a witness for PFC Phelps, and as the movie so eloquently states, he is now responsible in no small part for PFC Phelps’s legacy, Through the Wreaths Across America program, we are ensuring that the lives of our men and women in uniform are remembered, not their deaths. It is our responsibility as Americans, to be their witness and to share their stories of service and sacrifice with the next generation.”
Those wanting to donate should send a check in the amount of $15 for each wreath made out to “Wreaths Across America” and send it to the Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club, PO Box 453, Carmichaels, Pa. 15320.