Civic club to conduct wreath-laying ceremony
The Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club has volunteered to conduct the “Wreaths Across America” ceremony this year at Laurel Point Cemetery on Saturday.
During the noon ceremony, seven ceremonial wreaths will be placed to remember those who served, honor their sacrifices and teach our younger generations about the high cost of our freedoms. The American Legion Post 400 Honor Guard and Carmichaels Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3491 will be participating in the wreath-laying ceremony.
Specially designated wreaths for the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and POW/MIA will be placed on memorials during a ceremony that will be coordinated simultaneously at more than 400 participating locations across the country.
Saturday will mark the 19th anniversary of Maine wreaths being donated to be placed on headstones at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. This year also is the seventh year of the national wreath sponsorship campaign under the guidance of the nonprofit WreathsAcrossAmerica.org that will bring the same remembrance wreaths to national and state veterans cemeteries, monuments and community centers all across the nation.
In addition to these ceremonial wreaths, civic groups around the country have joined with “Wreaths Across America{sup}”{/sup} to promote sponsored wreaths to be placed on veterans’ graves in designated sections of participating cemeteries. Each year the sections are rotated to eventually include all veterans.
It is projected more than 160,000 volunteers will take part this year in the “Wreaths Across America” mission to “Remember, Honor and Teach.” In 2008 and 2009, Congress unanimously decreed the second Saturday of December as “National Wreaths Across America Day.”
For more information, visit online at www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org