The Warren Townsend American Legion Post 13 in Hot Springs will once again join in the national observance of Wreaths Across America Saturday, placing Christmas wreaths on military veterans' graves at Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
A short ceremony will kick off the event at 10 a.m. at the cemetery, located at 2868 Airport Road, with the service song of each branch of the military being performed by a bugler.
"This is the third year Post 13 has done it and we usually only do one cemetery each Christmas," John Crawford, the Post's publicity officer, said.
"We do as many as we can, as many as we can afford," he said, noting they have already ordered all they will be distributing this year, about 300 wreaths.
"If we have any left over we will locate another cemetery and put the rest there, if we have more wreaths than veterans markers we can find," Crawford said.
"We want to let the public know about the event if they want to come, especially family members and friends of veterans."
Crawford said many of the wreaths were ordered by family members to be placed on specific graves while others were paid for through donations or people purchasing multiple wreaths with no preference for where they are placed.
"The ceremony usually lasts about 20 or 30 minutes. We always try to do it before Christmas," he said.
According to a website for Wreaths Across America, in 1992, the Morrill Worcester wreath company in Harrington, Maine, had a surplus at the end of the holiday season. Recalling a boyhood trip to the cemetery, Worcester donated 5,000 wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. military cemetery in Virginia, to honor the country's fallen, with the help of volunteers and a local trucking company.
In 2005, after 13 years of similar donations, "a photo of snowy gravestones covered with wreaths at the cemetery received widespread circulation on the internet," it said. Thousands of people called Worcester, wanting to replicate the wreath-laying service at their own veteran cemeteries.
By the end of 2006, Worcester's company supplied wreaths to over 230 state and national cemeteries and veterans monuments across the country. Over 150 different locations simultaneously held ceremonies with the one at Arlington Cemetery.
Crawford said people can order wreaths, which are $15 each, for next year's event, noting, "anyone can order a wreath for anyone." He said they collected numerous donations at the Hot Springs Farmers & Artisans Market in September as part of a celebration of the Post's 100 year anniversary this year.
"Any donations are welcome. Some people would give $5 or $10 and some would pay for five or 10 wreaths," he said. Donations to Post 13, 3237 Albert Pike Road, can be earmarked to go for the wreaths.
Local on 12/08/2019