Wreaths Across America event is Saturday

BLOOMFIELD, Mo.  — To honor and remember veterans, the Missouri Veterans Commission will host Wreaths Across America, a holiday wreath-laying event on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Locally, volunteers will lay wreaths on veterans’ graves at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, as well as four other veterans’ cemeteries in Missouri.

As part of Wreaths Across America, volunteers will be laying wreaths on more than 20,000 graves in veteran cemeteries across Missouri with the ceremony starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Wreath Across America began in 1992, according to Tammy Smith, cemetery director in Bloomfield, when the Worcester Wreath Company began contributing wreaths to be placed at headstones in Arlington National Cemetery. In 2006, the company expanded on that tradition by donating seven ceremonial wreaths to each state and national veterans cemetery in the country.

Smith said on Saturday, the event will begin with a brief ceremony at the Committal Shelter Plaza in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery.

“There will be a ceremony, and Lt. Col.  Mike L. Woods will be emceeing,” Smith said. “Woods will read a script set out by the Wreaths Across America Foundation and then we’ll have a ceremonial wreath-laying of the branches of service, Prisoners of War and those still Missing in Action (POW/MIA).”

Smith said they will then release the families to go lay their wreaths, and afterward, the volunteers will lay the rest. 

“We like to give the families a few moments to lay their own wreaths first,” Smith said. 

Anyone who wishes to help in laying the remaining wreaths is welcome to attend the ceremony. Smith said volunteers do not need to sign up in advance and can simply show up.

“The importance of the wreath laying is for our veterans who have passed to never be forgotten,” Smith said. “We need to always remember their sacrifices; always remember them during times that they would normally be with their families.”

Smith also stressed the importance of teaching younger children about wreath laying and what it means to be a veteran.

“We need to let them know what it means to be a veteran and what it means to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of others and for the freedom of the country,” Smith said. 

Smith said she believes the act of laying wreaths is a beautiful sentiment that lets families grieving know their loved ones are remembered.