One thing I always look forward to just before Christmas is the
Wreaths Across America ceremony that is held on December 18th (or so) at
12:00 -- all around the world. I had fun getting it going in Sidney,
Ohio and worked with a lot of really super people. We usually hit it for
around 600 wreaths, and got a lot of support there in Shelby County.
But, then we moved to North Carolina and I didn't know what would happen
and how I might be able to help.
In Sidney, it was a
relatively small project in a small cemetery. There was usually a much
bigger ceremony at the Dayton VA hospital, but we didn't get involved
there. So when we moved to NC, we did our research and found out that
the project pretty much centered around the Raleigh National Cemetery.
It is a little smaller than the Dayton VA (which is still an active
cemetery and placed a little over 7,000 wreaths this year), and a whole
lot smaller than Arlington National Cemetery (150,000 wreaths), but it
is still a good ceremony and pretty well supported. The Normandy
American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France placed 9,300 wreaths and
all 14 American cemeteries in in other countries participated. In
America, 2.4 million wreaths were placed in over 3,100 cities.
There are 5,200 white granite or flat marble veteran grave markers, meticulously lined up across a neatly manicured field. Also, it is worth noting that this cemetery is now pretty much inactive as all the burial sites are occupied.
This
year's ceremony was very well attended. The sky was overcast and rain was only about 30 miles away, but the people who were there were determined to get the wreaths all placed. Scouts, Veterans of all ages, JROTC students, young kids with their parents and grandparents --
everyone pitching in, got the wreaths down and all the boxes cleaned up
just as the rain sprinkles arrived . HOOAH!!
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