On the second Saturday in December each year, the National Wreaths Across America Day carries out a mission to Remember, Honor and Teach by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery and more than 1,600 cemeteries throughout the United States and abroad.
In Tioga County, N.Y., a ceremony was held on Dec. 14 at the Veterans Memorial Park in Owego to honor and remember our fallen heroes and others who served, including several servicemen who are buried in overseas cemeteries along with Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. The program’s 2019 theme was, “Everyone plays a part.”
Commemorative wreaths were to be placed at cemetery entrances throughout the county and on veterans’ graves. Several veterans groups, cemetery associations and local officials participated in wreath laying throughout the county, and local churches rang bells in honor of the occasion.
Jim Raftis, Sr., Memorial Day and Wreath chairman and Korean War veteran, shared, “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.”
Reiterating the mission, Raftis explained, “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.”
Raftis further remarked, “When driving by or visiting a cemetery and you see wreaths are absent from veterans headstones, you take the initiative with a friend to get a wreath to remember a veteran this Christmas for his service and sacrifice.”
At the ceremony, The Rev. G. Terry Steenburg blessed the wreaths and offered the invocation and benediction. Andrea McBride sang the National Anthem. The Honor Guard of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, Veterans of Foreign Wars, posted the colors.
At noon, veterans from the Tioga County Marine Corps League, Modern Warfare of Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq, Chapter 480 Vietnam Veterans of America, Tioga Post 401 American Legion and Auxiliaries and Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 V.F.W. and Auxiliaries, along with members of the 137th New York Re-enactors, 141st PA, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the Ghost Riders Cavalry group, and Camp 137, David Ireland Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War paused for a moment of silence.
An evergreen wreath was laid at the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial, and the Civil War re-enactors fired a musket volley in honor of the 500 or more Fallen Heroes of the war.
Boy Scouts from Troop 60 participated in wreath-laying at 20 Tioga County cemeteries, and families of Tioga County’s four Modern Warfare fallen heroes placed wreaths locally and at Arlington National Cemetery.
Raftis thanked Price Chopper-Owego for their generous donation of 11 wreaths for the Tioga County Veterans Memorial and Civil War Union Memorial and for wreaths placed on the headstones of Fallen Heroes in various Tioga County Cemeteries. Anonymous donors also supported the county’s Wreaths Across America initiative.
Raftis added that it is not too late to place a wreath on a veteran’s grave for Christmas. Questions can be directed to Jim Raftis, Sr. at jraftis2@stny.rr.com.
(Jim Raftis, Sr. contributed to this story)
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