It’s a tradition 21 years in the making.
Photo by Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi, U.S. Air Force.
Wreaths at graves at Arlington National Cemetery. This iconic photo helped establish Wreaths Across America as a national non-profit organization.
Right now, thousands of wreaths are being trucked to cemeteries across the country as a way to honor and remember veterans.
“The holidays are a time of year when families come together and people tend to notice an empty seat at the table a little bit more,” said Amber Caron, spokeswoman for the national not-for-profit organization Wreaths Across America.
The organization didn’t set out to become a national non-profit, or even aspire to be one.
The whole thing started as a gift from Morill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Maine.
“In 1992, he had about 5,000 extra wreaths and they were just going to get tossed,” Caron said. “He remembered a trip he had taken to Arlington as a child and it just stayed with him.”
With the help of Olympia Snowe, one of Maine’s senators at the time, Worcester got permission to bring them down to Arlington National Cemetery.
Statistics show the average person buried at Arlington is only visited three to four times ever.
Because of that, Worcester decided to lay the wreaths in an older section of the cemetery that hadn’t been visited in years.
The wreath donations continued as a gift from the Worcester family for years.
“They would lay the wreaths and it was a very private thing that not many people knew about it,” Caron said.
But all that changed with a photograph.
“In 2006, a USO photographer got a shot of a wreath in the snow and it became this iconic image,” Caron said. “It was kind of this viral sensation and big to-do back [in a time] before everything went viral.”
All of a sudden, Worcester started to receive donations from people all over the country who wanted wreaths for their own hometown.
The next year, Wreaths Across America went national. It has grown each year, especially at Arlington.
“We try to do more and more because our ultimate goal next year, which is Arlington’s 150th anniversary, is to place a remembrance wreath on each of the about 240,000 grave stones or markers that are there,” Caron said.
Arlington has seen a steady increase in wreath donations over the years. Last year, about 115,000 wreaths were placed – on about half of the graves.
This year, their goal was to do at least 130,000.
Caron said they don’t know how many will actually make it there yet because the cut off for donations wasn’t until midnight Thursday.
“So to say there is a shortage isn’t necessarily correct; we’re just basically behind the goal of that incremental increase,” Caron said.
In addition, more cemeteries are participating this year, including 16 in Illinois.
Debbie Smothers is the volunteer coordinator for Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.
“The first year that I went out to the cemetery for the Wreaths Across America ceremony, which was the first year they had it out there, I expected it to be a huge event and we had like 40 wreaths and 30 people show up.”
Smothers is also the founder of Operation Care Package, a not-for-profit with a goal of supporting troops through care packages and letters of encouragement.
She said being involved with Operation Care Package put her in a position to help promote Wreaths Across America.
Seven years later, Smothers says she is expecting about 5,500 wreaths. But she’s not done yet.
“My goal is to someday have a wreath for every veteran’s grave at Abraham.” There are close to 34,000 buried at the cemetary, and that number keeps going up: Between 17 and 21 veterans are buried there every day.
The cemetery is just one of about 900 locations across the country that are participating this year, including about 100 at which wreaths will be laid for the first time.
“Nationwide donations are up 12 percent,” Caron said. “That means all the communities where these cemeteries are located, local wreaths are being laid and people getting involved in their communities, which is a great thing.”
Smothers says that’s why awareness of the organization is so important.
“That’s the main thing, people finding out about it,” Smothers said. “So many people have no idea that they’re even here. Because it’s a veterans cemetery they think ‘Well, we don’t have anybody buried out there’ and yes, you do; those are all our family.”
Caron says one of the hardest question Wreaths Across America gets is why they put so much effort into veterans who have died when there are so many living that are in need.
“We don’t disagree or take away from the fact that there are living veterans who need help and support and, by all means, we think that that should happen,” Caron said. “But for families who have lost someone, it’s important for them to know that, even if it’s just once year, when they’re gone, someone will still come and look at that stone and take a moment to thank them for their service.”
Smothers choked up as she described what it was like one year to make sure a wreath was laid for all 19 veterans at Abraham Lincoln who had been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I couldn’t find this one particular soldier’s grave,” Smothers said. “I mentioned his name and I just said, ‘We need to find his, it should be somewhere here,’ and some guy just yells at me and says, ‘He’s right here!’ I turned around and this guy had this big grin on his face. I looked at him and he said, ‘This is my son.’ He told me it was the best thing ever to know that people are out there honoring them.”
Those involved with the organization say honoring the veterans is more important than the wreath itself.
“We make it a point that whether or not a stone gets a wreath, that there was a pause and there was a moment and there is thanks given to that person,” Caron said.
And Smothers has a message for those who might be placing a wreath for the first time this weekend.
“Take a moment and look at the veteran’s name, when he served and his age,” Smothers said. “There’s a lot to be said on those little headstones.”
