Wreaths Across America decorates veteran graves at Bath National Cemetery, pictured, where 14,000 veterans are interred. (Provided Photo)
On Saturday, Dec. 12, citizens living in Tioga and Northern Bradford and Susquehanna Counties and the 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 National Wreaths Across America Day.
The ninth year local objective is to have volunteers from church congregations, community organizations, industry, business, and the public place an evergreen wreath at the main entrance to every cemetery and fresh wreaths from their families and appreciative citizens for as many veteran headstones as possible. The local goal is to cover every veteran grave with a wreath. Wherever there is a wreath laid gently against a gravestone, there is a real person, an individual, who sacrificed for the wellbeing and protection of this country.
Remembrance Ceremonies will be held at noon on Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial in Owego’s Courthouse Square and at various times at veteran memorials in Waverly and the Valley, in Nichols, Candor and Spencer Van Etten, as well as the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., and 1,000 veteran cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and American Memorial Cemeteries overseas.
In Owego, Gold Star Mothers and Families and veterans will lay ceremonial wreaths at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial in the Courthouse Square for Tioga County’s 172 fallen heroes of Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, World Wars One and Two and four Tioga County Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients.
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.
Bonnie Baker Duff, president of the Daughters of Union Veterans of Civil War Tent 2, will place a wreath at the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial.
The coordinator and facilitator of the Church of Greater Owego, Rev. G. Terry Steenberg, will lead the prayer and bless the fresh evergreen wreaths.
The Honor Guard of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars will post the colors. Honor guards from the Vietnam Veterans of America, Tioga Post 401 American Legion, Iraq and Desert Storm and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Auxiliaries will also honor all veterans.
The American Legion and VFW Posts in Waverly and Sayre, Nichols, Candor, Spencer/Van Etten and Nichols 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.
Most important, make sure there is a wreath at the entrances to 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.
In the Valley, Waverly, South Waverly, Sayre and Athens communities are getting their citizens involved. In Waverly, 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.
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 wreath program. Sandra Lee Spaeth of Rome, Pa., is coordinating wreath activity in Windham’s four cemeteries. She hopes it spreads to neighboring Northern Susquehanna County localities like Warren Center, Little Meadows and Friendsville.
Elsewhere in Tioga County, Riverside Cemetery in Apalachin Trustee JoAnn Walter for the second year 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.
In the Town of Owego, the Tioga County Seventh Day Adventist Church adopted the 34-veteran Broadway Cemetery on Day Hollow Road. Especially honored this year was WWII Navy Fighter Pilot Charles Victor McHenry, killed in action when shot down over Okinawa.
Berkshire Evergreen Cemetery President Maurice Stoughton will place a wreath at the veteran memorial inside the cemetery on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Dec. 7, recognizing the service and sacrifice of two Berkshire veterans – the late Pearl Harbor Survivor Dick Hopkins and New York State Senate Veteran of the Year Joseph Ceurter, recipient of two Silver Star Medals for gallantry and two Bronze Star Medals for meritorious service in a combat zone and five Purple Hearts.
The Wreaths Across America story began 24 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. Visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org to learn more.
Contact Owego 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 wreath-laying program.
