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Volunteers
Place Christmas Wreaths at Arlington Cemetery to
Remember, Honor, and Teach
By Alex Horton
Posted on Monday, December 19, 2011 |
Cody
Pasieke’s war ended 44 years ago, but the Navy veteran
still honors the men with whom he served during Vietnam.
Photo courtesy of VA | Slideshow
by JoAnne Green
Pasieke
joined thousands of volunteers who walked between
headstones at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday to
decorate grave sites with ribbon-adorned wreaths. Some
were there to visit family or comrades killed in action.
Others
placed wreaths on the headstones of total strangers.
The
20th annual event saw its biggest crowd ever, and more
than 90,000 wreaths were placed at burial sites. Wreaths
Across America, the non-profit group that organizes the
national event, had 20 trucks convoy from their
headquarters in Maine.
“It’s
very emotional to see everyone working together to honor
our veterans,” said Karen Worcester, a co-founder of the
group. Worcester placed wreaths at the grave of her two
aunts and an uncle interred at Arlington.
The
ethos of Wreaths Across America is to “remember, honor,
and teach” about the sacrifices of the military, said
Wayne Hanson, chairman of the group’s board.
Arlington was just one cemetery to observe the event.
740 cemeteries worldwide participated, including all
131national cemeteries administered in the U.S. and
Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Participants arrived in the early morning by car and
Metro. Many were Maine natives that chartered buses for
the event. Arlington’s amphitheater was packed as Hanson
emceed the event.
“We
have come here from all walks of life to honor and
remember our fallen American veterans,” Hanson said.
Groups of active duty troops shared granite benches with
older men with military slogans and insignia pinned to
their hats and coats.
After
remarks from Maine Governor Paul Lepage, participants
fanned out across the cemetery to unload hundreds of
boxes of wreaths in trucks parked throughout the
cemetery grounds. Organizers asked people to take only
one or two wreaths per person, and to respect
non-Christian veterans by skipping headstones marked by
other faiths.
Many of
the volunteers had some connection to the military.
Three members of a women’s walking group from Fairfax,
Virginia each had a family member in the service.
Others
were clearly in the service themselves. Groups of
clean-shaven men with cropped haircuts paced through
Section 60, the only section of Arlington that accepts
new interments.
A group of Boy and Girl Scouts were chosen to lay a
wreath during a ceremony at John F. Kennedy’s grave
site. From there, groups streamed to the Mast of the
Maine, an original part of the ship USS Maine. The ship
was sunk off the coast of Cuba in 1898, an event that
led to the Spanish-American War.
Maine
Governor Paul Lepage placed a wreath at the memorial and
posed for photographs with Maine State Troopers and
organizers of the event.
The
day’s events ended with a special wreath laying at the
Tomb of The Unknowns. The renowned changing of the guard
ceremony, marked by military precision, was altered to
include a wreath laid at the base of the tomb. The crowd
watched silently in the cold as the guard’s heels
clacked with each passing turn.
The
wreaths will remain at Arlington until January 28, when
volunteers return to the cemetery to collect them.
Organizers hope to see the event grow enough in the next
five years to place a wreath at every grave at
Arlington.
“I was
too busy fighting back tears that I haven’t processed it
yet,” said Pasieke. “But it’s beautiful. It’s like
looking at a giant Christmas card.”
(Source: U.S. Dept. of Veterans
Affairs)
 Click
Here to See Archives of Photogravure
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