Volunteers placed over 8,000 holiday wreaths to honor and remember our nation’s veterans at the Chattanooga National Cemetery last week.
“This year, we had the most wreaths we’ve ever received, as well as the most volunteers,” said cemetery director Michael Henshaw. “These wreath-laying ceremonies help us continue the mission of maintaining national cemeteries as national shrines, sacred to the honor and memory of those interred or memorialized here. It’s a great way for the community to come together to pay our respects during the holiday season.”
The Civil Air Patrol’s Tennessee Wing, Group II arranges the wreath-laying ceremony with assistance from local citizens and other veterans service organizations as a part of Wreaths Across America. All 135 VA national cemeteries receive at least seven wreaths, one for each service branch, one for the Merchant Marines and one for prisoners of war and those missing in action.
This is the eleventh year of Wreaths Across America, a nationwide program which distributes holiday wreaths as a tribute to veterans laid to rest at Department of Veterans Affairs’ national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries.
Source: National Cemetery Administration