Wreaths in the snow: Hundreds of local veterans’ graves marked by Wreaths Across America

Six-hundred thirty fresh wreaths were distributed on veterans’ graves between three northern Columbia Basin cemeteries on Saturday; 350 wreaths were placed in Ephrata, 140 in Soap Lake and 140 in Quincy.

The wreath ceremony was part of a non-profit organization called Wreaths Across America (WAA) and was for Wreaths Across America Day.

Lt. Col. Kathy Maxwell of the Civil Air Patrol’s Columbia Basin Composite Squadron helps raise funds for the wreaths and the local CAP participates in the ceremonies each year. Each wreath is $15, but $5 of that goes toward the local youth cadet program, Maxwell said.

Maxwell said the wreath-laying started around 2010 in Washington and about six to eight years ago in Ephrata. All the people involved in laying and selling the wreaths are volunteers.

While Maxwell does the ceremonies in the northern Columbia Basin, another group of volunteers does a ceremony in Moses Lake the same day. The Daughters of the American Revolution and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Auxiliary worked together and had a Wreaths Across America Day ceremony at Guarding Angels Cemetery in Moses Lake.

Wreaths Across America started in 1992, when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, had a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. According to the WAA website, Worcester remembered his profound experience at Arlington National Cemetery when he was 12 years old and realized he had an opportunity to honor the country’s veterans by placing the surplus wreaths at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery.

The website said the annual tribute went on quietly for years, until in 2005, when a photo of the wreaths on stones at Arlington circulated around the internet. Suddenly, the project received national attention. Thousands of requests poured in from all over the country from people wanting to help with Arlington or to emulate the Arlington project at their national and state cemeteries.

In 2007, Wreaths Across America was formed to continue the effort and support other groups around the country who wanted to do the same. December 13, 2008, was unanimously voted by Congress as “Wreaths Across America Day.” Since then, thousands of wreaths have been laid at hundreds of cemeteries across the United States, as well as some abroad on the second or third Saturday in December.

The website states in 2014, Wreaths Across America and its network of volunteers laid more than 700,000 memorial wreaths at 1,000 locations. The organization’s goal of covering Arlington National Cemetery was met in 2014 with the placement of 226,525 wreaths.

The mission of WAA is to remember, honor and teach. Maxwell said it is similar to Memorial Day and Veterans Day because the purpose of Wreaths Across America Day is to remember and honor all veterans and encourage conversations about service members and the wars veterans have served in. She highlighted it is a family event and the organization wants people in the community to be a part of the wreath-laying ceremony.

Maxwell said there were several dozen people who showed up between the three cemeteries. The showing was smaller than in previous years, which she attributed to the weather and the pandemic. Yet, Maxwell said she was very happy with how things went.

“(The ceremonies were) efficiently done and done with honor,” Maxwell said.

She also said she was grateful for the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association for showing up to the Ephrata ceremony.

“It’s just really been a great thing,” Maxwell said of WAA and the people she has met through it.

To sponsor a wreath next year or volunteer with the WAA through the Civil Air Patrol’s Columbia Basin Composite Squadron, visit wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/22620.

Maxwell said for every wreath bought until Jan. 14, the organization will receive two wreaths instead of one.