LIVERMORE FALLS — Fifty-five Christmas wreaths supplied by Wreaths Across America are to be laid at veterans’ graves in a ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday at Holy Cross Cemetery on Route 133.
Sponsored by the Frank L. Mitchell VFW Post 3335 in Jay, the ceremony will take place at the gravesite of Frank L. Mitchell who served in the U.S. Army and was killed in World War I. Local veterans, color guard and honors team will participate, along with VFW Post members and auxiliary.
The public is invited to attend and assist with laying of the wreaths.
Holy Cross is one of over 3,400 cemeteries nationwide receiving wreaths to remember the fallen and honor those that serve, and their families.
“Post 3335 is thrilled to be one of the first local veterans organizations to receive wreaths for a local cemetery,” VFW Post Judge Advocate Jim Manter said. “Through the efforts of our auxiliary member Alice Robinson, and the generosity of local citizens, we will receive 55 wreaths to place on veterans’ graves.”
This year’s efforts are co-chaired by Robinson and Manter.
Robinson’s husband, son and grandson all served in the military. “I am proud to be in the auxiliary and working to support veterans,” she said.
“This is a first for us locally, and hope the awareness of this annual opportunity will grow larger over the next few years, and we can place a wreath on all of our veterans’ graves, same as we place flags on them for Memorial Day,” Manter said. “Although 55 sounds like a lot of wreaths, we have 460 veterans interred at Holy Cross alone, and a total of over 1,598 veterans in all the cemeteries in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls area.”
Holy Cross will be the 15th cemetery in Maine to decorate veterans’ graves with Wreaths Across America’s support, Manter noted.
Manter said each local veterans organization will receive a wreath to place on their Post’s namesake gravesite: Frank L. Mitchell, VFW Post 3335 in Jay, George Bunton American Legion Post 10 in Livermore Falls, and Lane-Dube AMVETS Post 33 in Jay, named for David Lane and Andy Dube.
The wreaths are a symbol of honor, respect and victory, Robinson said.
They were donated in conjunction with a Wreaths Across America program, which provides fundraising opportunities for its wreaths. Robinson, the auxiliary chairperson, chose Wreaths Across America as her project.
The post held a donation drive for the program, which provides one wreath locally for every two wreaths purchased for national veterans cemeteries.
Local citizens also made additional wreaths, Manter said. In addition, the Post is credited with raising money for 66 wreaths that are headed to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, this week.
“One wreath can be purchased for $15 while two cost $30 with another one provided free,” Robinson noted. “We hope to make a lot more money to buy more wreaths next year.”
Wreaths Across America in Columbia Falls was founded by Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington.
According to the Wreaths Across America website, when Worcester was a 12-year-old paperboy for the Bangor Daily News he won a trip to Washington, D.C., to see the nation’s capital and Arlington National Cemetery. The experience followed him throughout his life and successful career, reminding him that his good fortune was due, in large part, to the values of this nation and the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
In 1992, Worcester Wreath Co. had a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season, the website says. Remembering his boyhood experience at Arlington, Worcester realized he had an opportunity to honor the country’s veterans. With the aid of then-U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, arrangements were made for the wreaths to be placed in one of the older sections of Arlington National Cemetery that had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year.
This is the 30th year of the Wreaths Across America program. The convoy of trailer-trucks and escort vehicles made a stop in Lewiston on Sunday afternoon as the weeklong journey to Virginia began.
For additional information on VFW Post 3335 wreaths program or to support local fundraising efforts, contact Manter or Robinson at the Post at 897-5112.
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