Volunteers lay 6,000 wreaths at cemetery

KILLEEN, TX, UNITED STATES

12.01.2016

Story by Sgt. Ashley Dotson 

11th Corps Signal Brigade

The volunteers paid tribute to many Family members, friends and honored fallen veterans by laying over 6,000 wreaths on their graves.

“Each year more and more volunteers come out to help prep the wreaths weeks prior and help lay the wreaths,” said Hilary Shine, the community liaison for Wreaths for Vets. “It is always very touching to see the amount of support we get from the community. We get such a wide variety from little children, Family members, veterans and the motorcycle community laying wreaths.”





First time volunteer Mary Combs brought her son and grandchildren. Combs said she was very surprised at the amount of volunteers who came to lay wreaths. It was very heartwarming for her to see the community come together to honor the veterans.

“I have several veterans in my Family and to see such a huge amount of love and support touched me so much that we will come every year,” Combs said.

Rena Jones said she was there to honor her father and her niece.

“This is my third year coming to help lay the wreaths,” Jones said. “My dad, Julius, died in 2014. He spent a few years in the Navy and retired as an engineer on Fort Hood. Paying respects to all of these former vets has helped me feel so much closer to him. I will continue to come and have this reminder of my dad.”

Jones said her niece Ashley is currently stationed at Fort Hood.

“The ceremony serves as a reminder of the many blessings I have had and continue to have. My dad may be gone, but I still have many loved ones here. One of these blessings is that my niece Ashley has safely returned home from multiple deployments.”

“This all started 10 years ago when Wreaths Across America sent us six wreaths,” Shine said. “After taking the wreaths to the cemetery and looking at all of the hundreds of graves, my mother-in-law Jean Shine and I decided that this was not going to be enough. Every grave needed a wreath. We worked with many volunteers and called every craft store to get the wreaths made for every grave and we have continued every year.”





The wreaths were loaded onto the Wreaths for Vets truck early Saturday morning and escorted by over 260 motorcycles to ensure that they were at the cemetery on time.

The ceremony began with Texas country artist Jackie Cox singing, “Thank You’s Not Enough.” After the song, over 3,000 volunteers stood in line to receive their wreaths.

Currently there are over 8,000 graves, but eventually, the cemetery could have up to 50,000 graves, Shine said. With such great support from the community, Wreaths for Vets plans to continue laying wreaths on every

grave.

For those who missed the opportunity to support the ceremony, volunteers will be needed on Jan. 14, to assist in the retrieval of the wreaths.

• Date Taken: 12.01.2016
• Date Posted: 11.28.2017 15:03
• Story ID: 256666
• Location: KILLEEN, TX, US