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Brunell: Donated wreaths will deck military graves

By Don Brunell

Published: December 13, 2016, 6:05am

Christmas is a difficult time for anyone grieving for lost loved ones. It is especially painful for American military families whose son, daughter, spouse or parent was killed while serving in uniform.

Normally, the fallen are remembered on Memorial Day, but thanks to a Maine family and over 800,000 donors and volunteers, more than a million wreaths will be laid on the tombstones of our fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen on Dec.17.

The panoramic view of Arlington National Cemetery’s rolling hills with its perfectly aligned white grave markers, warmed with the color of Christmas wreaths, is breathtaking. In 2015, nearly 250,000 wreaths were placed there.

Since the program started in 1992, more than 1,000 burial grounds across the nation and American national cemeteries in foreign lands have joined. In Washington, 13 memorial parks from Walla Walla to Port Orchard participate, and volunteers are expected to place over 42,000 wreaths this year. Over half of them will be laid at Tahoma National Cemetery.

Each year, Evergreen Memorial Gardens is involved. Brad Carlson, whose family owns and operates the Vancouver cemetery, observes: “We see moms, dads, spouses and children really suffering from their loved ones’ loss, and this helps them know that others care and remember. It is very moving and something you don’t forget.”

Here is how it started.

When Morrill Worcester was a 12-year-old paper boy for the Bangor (Maine) Daily News, he won a trip to Washington, D.C. His visit to Arlington National Cemetery made an indelible impression.

Years later, Worcester realized that he could use his family business to honor the veterans laid to rest in Arlington.

Founded in 1971, Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine, is a family-owned business which grows balsam fir in its forests. It has become one of the largest wholesalers of holiday balsam products, providing fresh Maine wreaths, trees and centerpieces.

Wreaths Across America sprang from a Worcester gesture in 1992, the shipping of surplus wreaths to Washington, D.C. They were placed on headstones in an older section of the Arlington National Cemetery — the most forgotten part of the burial grounds.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, interest in the project spiked.

In 2005, when WAA appeared on the internet with a sobering photo of thousands of snow-covered wreaths on Arlington headstones, interest and donations mushroomed.

Wreaths Across America is a privately funded charity that accepts no government money. Delivery of a million wreaths is quite an undertaking, especially this December, when much of our country is suffering from frigid arctic temperatures, icy roads and blinding blizzards.

Over 100 trucking companies voluntarily load their semi-trailers, and their drivers fan out across America. They absorb all of the delivery costs.

Morrill Worcester told the Bangor Daily News his first trip to Arlington National Cemetery helped him remember those who gave everything to keep America free. Today, the Wreaths Across America program helps us remember, as well.

The wreaths provide some comfort to families and friends of America’s fallen. They also remind us not to forget those with lifelong mental and physical disabilities from military service.

As a special note this Christmas: In today’s terrorist-infected world, we should include our law enforcement officers and firefighters here at home in our thoughts and prayers. They, too, are in harm’s way every day.

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