After the sub-zero temps on Saturday put an end to their efforts, a veterans group in Two Rivers was back at Forest View Cemetery to complete their Wreaths Across America mission.
A handful of volunteers showed up to help place the final wreaths on the final resting places of veterans buried in the cemetery, but as American Legion Auxiliary Unit 165 President P.J. Stevens tells SeehaferNews.com, it’s more than just laying down a wreath.
“Wreaths Across America requires that we say the veteran’s name out loud, spend a few seconds to honor them, and if it’s a veteran that’s actually laying the wreath, we ask them also to render a slow salute,” she noted.
This is the first year the Unit has participated in the program, which was founded in 2007 by Morrill and Karen Worcester.
The idea stemmed from a trip to a national convention and from a member with a close connection to the organization.
“One individual, whose husband is in one of the national cemeteries in Illinois, was very excited,” PJ explained. “She makes a ten-wreath donation down to Illinois, plus her husband’s, and she felt that we should take this on.”
In total, over 600 wreaths were placed between Saturday and Wednesday’s events at the two cemeteries, which covers just under half of the 1,400 veteran gravesites in Two Rivers.
PJ tells us that the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 165 will make sure at least one section of the cemeteries will be covered each year.
