Gold Star Mother Barbara Bilbrey places a Christmas Wreath remembering her Fallen Hero son, Iraq War Purple Heart and Bronze Star Recipient Army Specialist Charles Bilbrey Jr. in St. Patrick’s Cemetery.
Photo from Bath National Cemetery during a prior Wreaths Across America effort. Tioga County’s 2014 goal is an evergreen wreath on the grave of every veteran before.
On Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, citizens living in the Tioga, Bradford and Northern Susquehanna Counties and Valley communities of Waverly, Sayre and Athens will travel to over 100 cemeteries to honor veterans with a commemorative wreath during the holiday season as part of the Wreaths Across America Day.
The objective is to have volunteers from church congregations and community organizations and the general public place an evergreen wreath at the main entrance to every cemetery and fresh wreaths from their families for as many veteran headstones as possible. The Tioga County goal is to cover every veteran grave with a wreath.
Remembrance Ceremonies will be held at noon on Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial in Owego’s Courthouse Square and at various times at veterans memorials in Candor, Spencer – Van Etten, Nichols, Waverly and the Valley, as well as the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., and 900 veteran cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and American National Cemeteries overseas.
Not only are those currently buried honored, the wreath program remembers many forgotten graves in local cemeteries and in National Cemeteries nearby like Bath and Elmira. Locally, one may walk through a cemetery like Owego’s Historic Evergreen and find graves not only from the Civil War, but from back to the Revolutionary War.
This year it is projected one million wreaths will be placed nationwide as part of the theme “Don’t Say I Should Have. Say I Did.” Past themes describe the meaning of the day: “The Christmas They Never Had,” “In Honor of Those Who Have Had to Spend a Holiday Away From Loved Ones,” “In Memory of Those Who Never Made It Home” and “Come With a Mission, Leave With a Memory.”
Gold Star Mothers and Families and veterans will lay ceremonial wreaths at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial for Tioga County’s 172 fallen heroes of Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, World Wars One and Two. A wreath at the center memorial will honor all from Tioga County who served in the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and POW/MIAs, especially from the Korean War. The Daughters of Civil War Veterans will place a wreath at the Tioga County Union Memorial.
The Senior Pastor of Owego’s Historic First Baptist Church, Rev. G. Terry Steenburg, will lead the prayer and bless the fresh evergreen wreaths. These are a symbol used for centuries to recognize and honor and a living tribute renewed annually. People should see this tradition as a living memorial to veterans and their families. The sacrifices they made are worth the effort.
The Honor Guard of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars will post the colors.
Elsewhere in Tioga County, JoAnn Walter is a Trustee at Riverside Cemetery in Apalachin. She has organized a “Friends of Riverside Cemtery-Apalachin” and is asking local Apalachin area churches and community groups to place wreaths on veteran graves in Riverside and other Apalachin area cemeteries.
Berkshire Evergreen Cemetery President Maurice Stoughton will place a wreath at the veterans memorial inside the cemetery on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Sunday, Dec. 7, recognizing also the service and sacrifice of the late Pearl Harbor Survivor Dick Hopkins of Berkshire.
In the Valley, South Waverly, Sayre and Athens, communities are getting their citizens involved. The VFW and American Legion with their Auxiliaries and Friends of the Waverly Cemetery Preservation will conduct brief services and lay wreaths at veteran memorials and cemeteries including Glenwood, East Waverly – Factoryville, St. James and Forest Home. Waverly hopes to expand its activities and is encouraging more community participation.
Across the border, the Sayre VFW and American Legion will place wreaths at veteran memorials and hold short services at designated cemeteries in South Waverly, Sayre and Athens. Sayre VFW Commander Dan Polinski will coordinate.
Other Bradford County towns like Windham continue to learn more about the wreaths program. Sandra Murray is coordinating wreaths activity in Windham and hopes it spreads to nearby localities like Warren Center, Little Meadows and Friendsville in neighboring Northern Susquehanna County.
Not all families of veterans are themselves alive or may not live here. Here’s where citizens can help. It matters not that you have a loved one buried locally. It matters not that you lay a wreath upon the grave of someone you never knew. What does matter is that by placing a wreath upon a grave, any grave, you are honoring all veterans who have served, are serving, or will serve in the future. This is a wonderful way to honor their service at Christmas time.
Those participating are asked to pause at each headstone for a moment of silence. Reflect on ensuring that the individuals who served to protect the freedoms of our country are not, and never will be, forgotten.
The wreath laying tradition is not only for the fallen and those who have passed on, but for living veterans, our active military, and for their families. If you ask a Gold Star Mother about the loss of her son, their biggest fear is that their son’s memory will be forgotten. That’s why it is important to take the time to remember our blessings that have come at such a great cost.
The Wreaths Across America story began 23 years ago when Morrill Worcester of the Worcester Wreath Company from Harrington, Maine, initiated a tradition of donating and placing wreaths on the headstones of our nation’s fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery. Recognition of the service and sacrifice of our veterans, and their families, is especially poignant during the traditional holiday season. Visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org
Weather may be a factor. Pick a good day to place a wreath at a veteran headstone while visiting cemeteries in Tioga County’s nine townships – Barton, Berkshire, Candor, Newark Valley, Nichols, Owego, Richford, Spencer and Tioga.
Most important, make sure there is a wreath at the main entrance of a cemetery.
An industry, local company or business, a community organization or youth group or individual may want to make specially designed wreaths for the six branches of service and POW/MIA and decorate the entrance to the cemetery and a veterans grave inside.
American Legion and VFW Posts in Candor, Spencer/Van Etten, Nichols, Waverly and Sayre are encouraged to place wreaths at their veteran memorials and on their veteran graves. Families and friends of deceased veterans may place wreaths at the headstones of veterans. Remember those small cemeteries in each township.
There is a famous quote that says “One is never truly dead until they are forgotten.” The mission of Wreaths Across America is to REMEMBER the fallen, HONOR those who served including their families who sacrifice, and TEACH our children the high cost of the freedoms we enjoy each day. It is our shared believe that, “The nation which forgets its defenders will soon be forgotten,”– Calvin Coolidge.
A sub mission of Wreaths Across America: REMEMBER those who are unable to be with their loved ones this holiday season, HONOR their memory and TEACH your own children the value of freedom.
Organizers encourage you to pause each day to reflect on those who will be unable to share this Christmas time with the deceased veterans they love. There were empty chairs at the Thanksgiving table and each one is a reminder of the sacrifices made by so many to protect the freedoms that we enjoy.
On Saturday, Dec. 13, organizers say that nationwide – thousands of wreaths will be placed by over 200,000 volunteers. Thousands of wreaths will be placed in Arlington National Cemetery, in all 50 states from Maine to Alaska and Hawaii, the three 9/11 sites and 24 national cemeteries on foreign soil.
As we enter into this season of giving, organizers ask you, “How will you remember, honor and teach?”
Whether it’s through volunteering to lay wreaths on the headstones of our veterans and fallen heroes so that no one will be forgotten, know that your support is so appreciated by the families of veterans you are remembering.
Belgian-born Pierre Claeyssens, an American immigrant and philanthropist who “never stopped expressing his gratitude to American GIs who helped free his native country in two world wars, perhaps said it best, “To be killed in war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worse. To be forgotten is the worst.”
Contact Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Coordinator Jim Raftis by email to jraftis2@stny.rr.com or by calling (607) 687-4229 to report your wreath activities and suggestions or to obtain more information about the local program.
