Christmas Wreaths honor veterans

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 get together. 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 come 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 a veteran’s headstone, you take the initiative with a friend to get a wreath to remember a veteran this Christmas for their service and sacrifice.

Mission

The 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 11 wreaths for the Tioga County Veterans Memorial and Civil War Union Memorial, and 18 for Fallen Heroes buried in Military Overseas Cemeteries. A first time donation by Adam Weitsman of Upstate Shredding also supported wreaths for Fallen Heroes.

Buried Overseas

Tioga County Servicemen buried overseas in American Battle Monuments Commission Cemeteries include the following.

Henri-Chapell-Belgium: 2nd Lt. Albert F. Church of Nichols, Pfc. James LaDue of Waverly. Ardennes-Neupre, Belgium: Pfc. Robert Zimmer of Spencer. Lorraine-St. Avoid, France: Pvt. Raymond Oakes of Newark Valley. Luxemburg: Pfc. Richard Warner, Pvt. William Harding, Pvt. Hugh Gardiner Jr. of Apalachin, and Pvt. Robert Baker of Candor. 

Netherlands-Margraten: Sgt. Richard Hoyt of Candor, Pvt. Robert Magee of Lounsberry, Pfc. Glenn A. Warner of Owego, and Pfc. Edward Whalen of Straits Corners. Cambridge-England: Flight Officer John E. Wright of Nichols. Punchbowl-Honolulu, Hawaii: Pfc. Donald Lester Short of Owego.

Manila-Philippines: Pfc. Henry Meddaugh of Owego. Denmark: 2nd Lt. John Richard Vlyman of Waverly. Pearl Harbor: Seaman First Class Delmar Dale Sibley of Owego.  

Remember   

Remember, there should be a Christmas wreath on each fallen hero’s grave in our communities. 

Families will place wreaths on the graves of four Modern Warfare Fallen Heroes to include the first and only casualty of the Afghanistan War, Sgt. Justin Richard Rogers of Barton. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. 

First Iraq casualty Navy PO3rd Class Nicholas Wilson remembered at his memorial in Newark Valley. 

Army Pfc. Nathan Fairlie in Candor’s Maple Grove Cemetery. 

Gold Star Mother Barbara Bilbrey and her family will wreath the grave of her son, Army Specialist Charles Bilbrey Jr., at St. Patrick’s Cemetery. The Bilbrey’s relocated to Hinesville, Ga. near Fort Stewart, where Charlie trained. They’ve cancelled their public wreath program but a few volunteers will place wreaths at the Memorial Trees. 

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. 

Ralph Trenchard and children Ryan and Katie 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 are Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, especially those from Tioga County during the early Korean War days and still in North Korea. 

Ceremony

Saturday’s noon ceremony at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial was cancelled due to the pandemic. Adjutant and Recruiter Ben Gardiner of the 137th Volunteer Infantry Regiment posted an Evergreen Wreath by the Trenchard’s at the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial in Courthouse Square. In absentia, his riflemen fired a musket 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. 

When the wreaths were laid last Saturday morning, a moment of silence remembered the late Rev. G. Terry Steenburg, who for the preceding 12 years blessed the wreaths and offered the invocation and benediction. Next December Andrea McBride will sing the National Anthem.    

Although not present, the Honor Guard of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, Veterans of Foreign Wars, remembers longtime 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 Auxiliaries laid wreaths at community war memorials and veteran 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 First Presbyterian, Methodist, and First Baptist. 

Honor

Here are examples of how some residents participated. 

In Windham, wreath laying at Windham Valley Home Cemetery, Windham Summit Bible Cemetery, and Osboune Hill Cemetery. Warren Center and Little Meadows wreathed in their cemeteries.  

Traditionally wreaths from Marnie Schrader and the Tioga County Seventh Day Adventist Church of Catatonk grace the entrance to Broadway Cemetery on Day Hollow Road in the Town of Owego. A special remembrance wreath honors 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.   

In the Town of Tioga, on the 77th anniversary and 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 79th anniversary of the Dec. 7 surprise attack. Vietnam Veteran Gary Umiker and Maurice Stoughton also placed a wreath at the entrance. Brown Road Cemetery in Berkshire has a wreath placed by John Stoughton and Maurice Stoughton. 

Teach

Kathy Briggs did a fantastic wreath job in Hope Cemetery in Newark Valley. Kathy’s dad, Ken Cornwell, died June 2020 and is a veteran of Korea. She has three uncles who served. She practiced the Wreaths Across America mission of Remember, Honor and Teach. 

Thirty-seven wreaths were placed in Hope Cemetery, just off Route 38. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor thanks sponsors Scott Smith and Son of Newark Valley and the family of Kenneth Cornwell and friends. One was placed on the grave of World War Two Fallen Hero Harold Briggs, who went down at sea as an explosion on a ship that sank very fast, and 123 died and 11 survived. A second Fallen Hero, Norman Briggs, died in battle in the Korean conflict. 

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.  

Remembered also are four Tioga County Medal of Honor Recipients from the Civil War. They include Army Colonel Benjamin Tracy of Owego/Apalachin for heroism May 6, 1864, at Wilderness Campaign, Va. He is buried in Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. U.S. Army Brigadier General Isaac S. Catlin of Owego for heroism on July 30, 1864. at Petersburg, Va. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. QM SGT CAL John Tribe of Halsey Valley for heroism August 25, 1862, at Waterloo Bridge, Va. He’s buried in Halsey Valley Cemetery off Hamilton Valley Road. Navy LSD Richard Stout of Owego for heroism Jan. 30, 1863, Stone River, S. C. He’s buried in Historic Evergreen Cemetery south of the Historic 80-grave Civil War section.  

Organizers thank all participants in the 2020 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, 253,000 wreaths were placed at Arlington National Cemetery. More than 2.2 million wreaths were placed in 2,155 participating cemeteries in the United States and 25 veterans cemeteries on foreign soil. 

Last Dec. 12, 364 Maine based balsam fir veterans wreaths were placed on the headstones of veterans including eight from Tioga County buried in two WWII European cemeteries. Margraten, Netherlands received 8,921, and Luxembourg’s got 5,072. 

The pandemic impacted WWII Cemeteries in Europe. This past Tuesday, the Netherlands went into a multi-week lockdown, with no wreaths or visitors to Margraten American National Cemetery.  

Buried in the Netherlands are Army Sergeant Richard Hoyt of Candor, Army Private Walter R. Mage of Lounsberry, Private First Class Glenn A. Warner of Owego, and Private First Class Edward E. Whalen of Straits Corners.  

Laid to rest in Luxembourg are Private First Class Richard Warner, Private William E. Harding, Private Hugh Gardner of Apalachin, and Private Robert C. Baker of Candor.  

On Dec. 1, 2018, some 9,400 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 include 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 imagine 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 An American Worth Fighting For” is the theme of the 29th National Wreaths Across America Day in Tioga, The Valley and Northern Bradford and Susquehanna Counties. 

Please report what you did for your community and recommendations for 2021 to Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars Wreath Chairman, Jim Raftis Sr., by email to jraftis2@stny.rr.com.