Wreaths Across America makes history at ANC: Goal of wreaths at 230,000 veterans gravesites achieved

Photo By Rachel Larue | Volunteers place wreaths on headstones Dec. 13, 2014, in Arlington National Cemetery. Wreaths Across America provides the holiday wreaths, and this year was the first year each eligible headstone received a wreath. (Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall PAO photo by Rachel Larue)  

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VA, UNITED STATES

12.13.2014

Story by Julia LeDoux 

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va. - The headstones of 230,000 veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery were adorned with wreaths Dec. 13 as 50,000 volunteers participated in the annual Wreaths Across America event.

“I’ve always felt strongly that each and every one of the brave men and women laid to rest here must be honored,” said Morrill Worcester, a wreath maker from Maine and founder of WAA. “It seems fitting that we reached our goal on the cemetery’s 150th anniversary.”

Worcester donated 5,000 wreaths to the cemetery back in 1992 and arranged for trucks to carry them from Maine to Arlington. Since then, the nonprofit has expanded to include more than 1,000 fundraising groups in all 50 states, who place wreaths at more than 900 cemeteries, military memorials and other sites. Congress officially designated Dec. 13 as Wreaths Across America Day in 2008.

A mile-long convoy of vehicles, including tractor-trailers, buses, motorcycles and cars carrying veterans, family members of fallen Soldiers and supporters delivered the wreaths in the early morning of Saturday morning after making the journey to Arlington from Maine.

Along the way, the group spread the WAA mission of “Remember, Honor, Teach” by stopping at schools, memorials and other locations in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland before arriving at ANC.

“I’ve been here just a week now, and I didn’t want to wait until next year to get involved with this,” said Army Staff Sgt. Orlando Arroyo, a volunteer who now spends his working days at the White House.

Arroyo stood among the white tombstones, assisting volunteers like Master Gunnery Sgt. Jose Reyna, a Marine from Henderson Hall, who brought along his wife, Reyna, and their children, Amali and Cristian.

“We’ve been here a couple of years and we’ve always come to see the wreaths,” the master gunny sergeant said. “I always explain the wreaths and the significance of my 30-plus years of service to our country. Everybody here has played a part in our freedom. It’s our duty to come here and pay our respects.”

Henderson Hall Marine Lance Cpl. Manuel Barragan was also volunteering for the first time at this year’s event.

“It just seems so appropriate, this is definitely honoring my comrades-in-arms and sending the holiday spirit to them,” he said. “This is my favorite time of the year and it just felt like the right thing to do.”

JBM-HH Command Sgt. Maj. Randall Woods laid wreaths and coins at the gravesites of Chief Warrant Officer 5 Sharon Swartworth and Sgt. Maj. Cornell Gilmore, members of the Judge Advocate Generals Corps who were killed Nov. 7, 2003, when their helicopter was shot down in Iraq.

“That was a huge impact for our JAG Corps,” he said. “For me, this was the first time I participated in Wreaths Across America.”

Woods slowly walked the mile and a half from the joint base to ANC’s Section 60, where the majority of service members who have been killed while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

“To me, it reinforces that Americans support our service members, past, present and those in the future,” he said. “I saw bikers, I saw kids, I saw the elderly, I saw a variety of people out there solely to grab a couple of wreaths and honor veterans and fallen service members.”

American service members were not the only ones who came out to honor those whose final resting places are in ANC. German Air Force Lt. Col. Sven Henniger and several of his colleagues also participated in the event.

“This keeps the camaraderie among all the armed services alive,” he said.

Also included in the day’s events were wreath laying ceremonies at the gravesite of President John. F. Kennedy, the USS Maine memorial and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

• Date Taken: 12.13.2014
• Date Posted: 12.18.2014 12:59
• Story ID: 150645
• Location: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VA, US