Wreaths honor deceased veterans during Christmas season
CARMICHAELS – As one who saw military duty in World War I and donated millions to charity including numerous American veterans’ events, Belgian-born American architect Pierre Claeyssens, once said, “To be killed in a war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst. To be forgotten is the worst.”
To help insure that America’s veterans aren’t forgotten, the Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club (CWCC) is organizing its fourth annual “Wreaths Across America” ceremony at the Laurel Point Cemetery, just off Market Street in Carmichaels. The public is invited to join in the wreath-laying ceremony honoring our nation’s veterans starting at noon on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Last year, the CWCC raised enough money to purchase a wreath for each of the 306 veterans interred in Laurel Point. This year, the goal is for 309 wreaths to account for the three additional veterans who passed away this year.
“The cut-off for the $15 donation per wreath was November 27,” said Kim Bartley, CWCC member in charge of donations, ordering and serving as CWCC liaison with the public.
“As of Dec. 2, we have enough donations for 357 wreaths. I’ll place any extra wreaths we get in at veterans’ memorials like the one in Crucible.”
Wreaths Across America is sending seven additional wreaths, one for each branch of the armed services (the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine) and one for our nation’s POW/MIAs. The wreaths are identical to the ones that will be laid on the veterans’ graves except Bartley will attach both an American and an armed services flag to each before it is ceremoniously laid at the cemetery’s veterans memorial by a representative of each of the armed services.
“Everyone attending the ceremony is invited to help us lay the wreaths on the graves of our veterans, some of which fought back as early as the War of 1812,” said Andrea Semenoff, CWCC president. “Last year, Cub Scouts from Troop #1262 in Carmichaels helped with the wreath laying ceremony and may join us again this year.”
Semenoff said that when the wreaths arrived in town last December, a volunteer truck driver drove through a New York snow storm to get them to Carmichaels a day or two ahead of the ceremony.
“They were a sight to behold,” she said. “The truck had a big wreath on front, and got a police escort into town.”
Just one of 900 cemeteries across the nation participating in Wreaths Across America Day, Laurel Point will host the American Legion Post 400 Honor Guard and the Carmichaels VFW Post 3491, both of which will participate in the wreath laying ceremony. The American Legion Post 400 Band, under the direction of Frank Ricco, will begin playing military selections at 11:30 a.m. near the monument at the cemetery.
Frank Ricco will also serve as master of ceremonies, and Senior Judge H. Terry Grimes will be the guest speaker. Paige Armstrong, 16, will sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” and her sister, Peyton, 11, will lead the recitation of the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
Wreaths Across America’s founder, Morrill Worcester, owner of the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, was inspired by a visit as a 12-year-old to Arlington National Cemetery in the nation’s capital.
The experience followed Worcester throughout his life and successful business career, reminding him that his good fortune was due, in large part, to the values of this nation and the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
In 1992, Worcester Wreath found itself with a surplus of wreaths near the end of the holiday season. Remembering his boyhood experience at Arlington, Worcester realized he had an opportunity to honor our country’s veterans.
With the help of former Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, arrangements were made for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery, a section which had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year.
In 2007, the Worcester family, along with veterans and other groups and individuals who had helped with their annual Christmas wreath ceremony in Arlington, formed Wreaths Across America™, a non profit 501c3 organization, to continue and expand the effort and support other groups around the country who wanted to do the same.
In 2008, over 300 locations held wreath laying ceremonies in every state, Puerto Rico and 24 overseas cemeteries. Over 100,000 wreaths were placed on veterans’ graves, and over 60,000 volunteers participated. December 13, 2008 was also unanimously voted by the US Congress as “Wreaths Across America Day.”
In 2010, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers laid over 220,000 memorial wreaths at 545 locations in the United States and beyond. The non-profit was able to include ceremonies at the Pearl Harbor Memorial, as well as Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and the sites of the September 11 tragedies. The organization accomplished these tasks with help from 902 fundraising groups, corporate contributions, and donations of trucking, shipping, and thousands of helping hands.
Last year, more than 400,000 wreaths were placed nationwide by over 150,00 volunteers as part of the Wreaths Across America mission to “Remember; Honor; and Teach.” Wreaths were placed in all 50 states and at 24 national cemeteries on foreign soil.