Each year, Wreaths Across America embarks on a six-day journey to remember and honor military personnel.
Beginning in Harrington, Maine, a parade of trucks travels down the East Coast on a mission to lay remembrance wreaths at the grave sites of veterans at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, and other veterans’ cemeteries along the way.
This year, the convoy will once again hold a ceremony at 1:15 p.m. on Dec. 14 at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, 1 Memorial Lane, Holmdel, to remember those New Jersey veterans lost during military service and honor Gold Star families who have lost loved ones in the military.
Remembrance wreaths will be presented to Gold Star families, and seven ceremonial wreaths will be laid for each branch of the military and POW/MIA veterans. Before stopping at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Wreaths Across America will lay a wreath at Liberty State Park, the site of the Liberation Memorial.
The ceremony is free and open to the public.
“This year, we’re proud to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our mission of Wreaths Across America,” said Mel Russen Jr., executive board member and location leader with Wreaths Across America in Ocean and Monmouth counties. “For many years the organization’s work went on very quietly. Now, the mission is more widely known, and we are grateful for the thousands of volunteers and for everyone’s support.”
During the 2015 event, 901,000 remembrance wreaths were placed across the country, including 240,815 at Arlington National Cemetery.
There were nearly 70,000 volunteers assembled at Arlington National Cemetery and close to a million volunteers participating at 1,108 locations nationwide, including 168 trucking companies and professional drivers who helped deliver the wreaths.
For more information, to sponsor wreaths or to sign up to volunteer, visit www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org.