The 137th New York Infantry offers a rifle salute at the conclusion of the Wreaths Across America ceremony held on Dec. 15 in Owego, N.Y. (Photo by JoAnn R. Walter)
There is something special about a wreath, a circle with no end and made from living evergreens with the sweet fragrance of balsam. The act of placing the wreath, straightening the red bow, and taking a moment of silence is a living tribute to those who put it all on the line.
The Christmas season is an especially poignant time, a time for traditional family gatherings. And there are many dinner tables with an empty seat, for those away serving to protect our freedoms and in some cases, for those who made the ultimate sacrifice. There is no more important gesture than to take our time amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and remember how we came to enjoy and the great cost at which these freedoms are provided.
When you drive by a cemetery in Tioga, Northern Bradford and Susquehanna Counties or in the Valley communities of Waverly, South Waverly, Athens and Sayre and it does not have an evergreen wreath hanging at its main entrance, you may act on behalf of your church congregation or yourself and find a way to get a Christmas wreath there without delay.
When driving by and visiting a cemetery and you see wreaths are absent from veteran headstones, you take the initiative with a friend to get a wreath to remember a veteran this Christmas for his service and sacrifice.
Jim Raftis, Sr., Memorial Day Chairman, speaks to guests at the Wreaths Across America ceremony held on Dec. 15 in Owego. (Photo by JoAnn R. Walter)
Mission of Wreaths Across America during the holiday is to REMEMBER our fallen heroes, HONOR those who served or are serving and TEACH our children that we are able to do so, in peace, because of the many sacrifices made by our military men and women.
A special thank you to Price Chopper in Owego for a generous donation of wreaths including 18 for Fallen Heroes buried in Military Overseas Cemeteries and the nine wreaths in front of the memorials. Also wreaths were placed on the headstones of Fallen Heroes in Tioga County Cemeteries. Donations from others who wished to remain anonymous also supported wreaths for Fallen Heroes.
Remember there should be a Christmas wreath on each fallen hero’s grave in our communities. That’s what Scoutmaster Matt Lewis and Ralph Trenchard’s Boy Scout Troop have been doing. There are 20 cemeteries where 77 Tioga County Fallen Heroes are buried. Eagle Scout Ryan Trenchard led his fellow Scouts in the wreath laying process.
Families will place wreaths on the graves of four Modern Warfare Fallen Heroes:
– First and only casualty of the Afghanistan War is Sgt. Justin Richard Rogers of Barton. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
– First Iraq casualty Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Wilson remembered at his memorial in Newark Valley.
– Army Pfc. Nathan Fairlie in Candor’s Maple Grove Cemetery.
– Gold Star Mother Mrs. Barbara Bilbrey with her family decorated the grave of her son, Army Specialist Charles Bilbrey Jr., at St. Patrick’s Cemetery.
Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War attended the Wreaths Across America ceremony held on Dec. 15 in Owego. (Photo by JoAnn R. Walter)
Tioga County’s first Vietnam casualty was Army Pfc. Gary Lee Faucett of Apalachin, KIA April 1, 1967, Tay Ninh.
First casualties in the Korean War were Pfc. Robert l. Burke, KIA, Sept. 3, 1950, and Pfc. Raymond U. Short of Owego, USMC, KIA Nov. 7, 1950, while defending a supply train.
First WWII Casualty from Tioga County and Owego was Navy Seaman Delmar Dale Sibley aboard the Battleship USS Arizona since Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941.
Veterans from the Tioga County Marine Corps League, Veterans of Modern Warfare of Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq, Chapter 480 Vietnam Veterans of America, Tioga Post 401 American Legion and Ladies and Sons Auxiliaries and Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliaries paused for a minute of silence at twelve noon Saturday at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial in Courthouse Square.
They joined Gold Star Mothers and Families, veterans and patriotic citizens and placed wreaths at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial remembering Tioga County’s 172 Fallen Heroes from Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, World War II, World War I and thousands of Tioga County veterans who served and are serving this great nation’s armed forces. Also remembered were Prisoners of War and Missing in Action especially those from Tioga County during the early Korean War days.
Adjutant / Recruiter Ben Gardiner of the 137th Volunteer Infantry Regiment laid an evergreen wreath at the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial in the Courthouse Square. His riflemen fired a volley in honor of the 500 Fallen Heroes of the Civil War. An evergreen wreath was laid at the 80-grave Civil War Section in Historic Evergreen Cemetery.
The Rev. G. Terry Steenburg blessed the wreaths and offered the invocation and benediction. Andrea McBride sang the National Anthem.
From left, Bonnie Baker Duff of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Ben Gardiner of the 137th New York Infantry, place a wreath at the Tioga County Memorial for Civil War soldiers during the Wreaths Across America ceremony held on Dec. 15 in Owego. (Photo by JoAnn R. Walter)
The Honor Guard of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, Veterans of Foreign Wars, posted the colors. They especially remembered long time Honor Guard comrade and Korean War veteran Joe Ceurter of Berkshire. Joe is Past Commander of Post 1371, New York State Veteran of the Year, recipient of five Purple Hearts, two Silver Star Medals and two Bronze Star Medals, and is buried in Elmira National Cemetery.
Veterans from the Candor, Nichols and Waverly American Legions and Waverly and Spencer Van Etten VFW Posts and their Men’s, Women and Sons Auxiliaries were active throughout Tioga County. They laid wreaths at community war memorials and veterans graves.
In Waverly, Friends of Waverly Cemetery Preservation with President Ron Keene as well as village trustees and Mayor Pat Ayres and the Town of Barton Legislator Dennis Mullen participated with veterans in ceremonies at the eight war memorials and four cemeteries.
The Valley Honor Guard placed wreaths and used a rifle volley and taps at Glenwood, Factoryville / East Waverly, the Major Russell Kline War Memorial, St. James and Forest Home Cemeteries, the War Memorial at Muldoon Park and the Tank Memorial by the Waverly by the VFW on Broad Street. Waverly church bells rang at noon from the First Presbyterian, Methodist and First Baptist.
Here are examples of how some residents participated.
In Windham, Windham Valley Home Cemetery, Windham Summit Bible Cemetery and Osboune Hill Cemetery. Warren Center and Little Meadows wreathed in their cemeteries.
Traditional wreaths from Marnie Schrader and the Tioga County Seventh Day Adventist Church of Catatonk graced veteran graves at Broadway Cemetery on Day Hollow Road in the Town of Owego. Special remembrance paid to WWII Navy Fighter Pilot Charles McHenry who was killed in action over Okinawa. His grandparents the Frank McHenry’s were from Owego.
In the Candor area, Veterans of Modern Warfare of Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan with President Danielle Ingram and Desert Storm veteran Bill Reynolds assisted by Iraq veteran Charlie Ellis placed wreaths at two Straits Corners cemeteries and one in Willseyville.
Brian Roberts of the Candor American Legion says he has a traditional wreath display honoring veterans on his red barn on Spencer Road.
In Apalachin, Riverside Cemetery Trustee JoAnn Walter continues to encourage the community to place wreaths on veteran graves in all Apalachin and Little Meadows cemeteries. Gary Babykin bought and placed 25 wreaths in the historic cemetery.
In the Town of Tioga, for the past seven decades regardless of weather, the Flats Gang of Owego on Christmas Day will place a new American flag by a family evergreen wreath to remember Staff Sergeant Mario “Bucket” Panetti, killed on Christmas Day 1943 when his B-17 crashed in England.
In Berkshire, Pearl Harbor Survivor Army Sergeant Richard Hopkins – recipient of the Bronze Star Medal on Guadalcanal – received a wreath on the 77th anniversary of the Dec. 7 surprise attack.
Gold Star Mother Elizabeth Faucett now lives in Ashland, Va., near Richmond and has wreaths placed in Tioga Cemetery on the grave of her Fallen Hero Son Army – first Tioga County Fallen Hero of the Vietnam War – Pfc. Gary Lee Faucett of Apalachin, killed in action April 1, 1967 on a search and destroy mission at Tay Ninh Providence, Vietnam, and on the grave of her husband and Gold Star Father WW II veteran Ernie Faucett.
Organizers thank all participants in the 2018 Wreaths Across America program in Tioga and Bradford and Northern Susquehanna Counties and the Valley. More citizens say they will place wreaths on veteran graves before Christmas.
On Saturday at noon, thousands of wreaths were placed at Arlington National Cemetery and 1,500 participating cemeteries in the United States and 25 veterans cemeteries on foreign soil. On Dec. 1, 9,387 wreaths honoring all U.S. Service Members and three Tioga County Fallen Heroes were placed at Normandy-American Cemetery. Records say the three Tioga County Fallen Heroes are Army Staff Sergeant David Dalton, Army Private Robert H. Lunn, and Army Private Warren Schutt. More searching is necessary to find out hometowns.
Said a local volunteer, “I can only image the heroic lives that are represented on some of those headstones. After the event I just stood in awe of the beauty that the Christmas wreaths brought to those thousands of straight lined headstones stretching as far as the eye could see.”
“Be Their Witness” is the theme of the 27th National Wreaths Across America Day in Tioga, The Valley and Northern Bradford and Susquehanna Counties.
Rest easy, sleep well, my brothers. Know the line has held, your job is done. Rest easy, sleep well. Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held. Peace, peace, and farewell.
Contact
Please report what you did for your community and recommendations for 2019 to Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars Wreath Chairman Jim Raftis by email to jraftis2@stny.rr.com.
Wreath Laying at Cemeteries
Check for a wreath at these Tioga County area cemeteries:
Town of Owego: Arbor Glade, Broadway, Campville, Evergreen, Flemingville, Gaskill Corners, Presbyterian Churchyard, Red Brush/Arbor Glade, Riverside-Apalachin, Searlestown, South Apalachin, South Owego, Tracy, Waits, and Whittemore Hill.
Town of Newark Valley: Bushnell’s Corner, East Newark Valley, Hope, Ketchumville, West Newark Valley, Churchyard/Pleasant Valley, and Zimmer.
Town of Berkshire: Brown, East Berkshire, Evergreen-Berkshire, Jenksville, Old Methodist, and Rawson Hollow.
Town of Richford: Highland, Holcombville, and West Hill.
Town of Candor: Anderson Hill, Cass Hill, Chapel Hill, Cranes Corner, Evergreen Candor, Lower Fairfield / Honeypot, Maple Gove, North Candor, Park Settlement, Pleasant Valley, Smith Valley, Upper Fairfield, Weltonville, West Candor, and Woodbridge.
Town of Nichols: Nichols Cemetery and Riverside-Lounsberry.
Town of Spencer: Baptist Corners, Evergreen-Spencer, and Beaver Meadows.
Town of Tioga: Germany Hill, Light, Smithboro, St. Patrick’s, Tioga, and Light Hill.
Town of Barton: Barton Center, Emory Chapel, Forest Home, Glenwood, Oak Hill, Prospect Hill, St. James, Talmadge Hill, and Waverly Cemetery.
Cemeteries in South Waverly, Pa., Sayre, Athens and elsewhere in Northern Bradford and Susquehanna Counties.
Wonderful article, thank you for recognizing and supporting this great event!