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 families to gather. 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 veterans 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 buy a wreath to remember a veteran this Christmas season for his or her service and sacrifice.
The Mission of Wreaths Across America during the holiday season 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.
Wreaths were placed by the Veterans Memorial at the Courthouse Square in Owego, and just in time for Wreaths Across America Day, held Dec. 18.
Owego and Tioga County’s 14th annual Wreaths Across America ceremony took place on Dec. 18 at noon, and at the Courthouse Square in Owego.
The ceremony included the Posting of the Colors by the Honor Guard of Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Anthem, Taps by Honor Guard Bugler Steve Palinosky, and a Prayer and Wreath Blessing by the Honor Guard and St. Patrick’s / Blessed Trinity Deacon Michael Donovan.
At the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial, 137th New York Infantry Regiment Commander Ben Gardner and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War Bobbie Baker-Duff conducted wreath-laying services. The 137th 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.
A special thank you to Price Chopper in Owego for the donation of nine wreaths for the Tioga County Veterans Memorial and Civil War Union Memorial, and 18 for Fallen Heroes buried in Military Overseas Cemeteries.
Tioga County Servicemen buried overseas in American Battle Monuments Commission Cemeteries include the following.
Buried in Henri-Chapell-Belgium are 2nd Lt. Albert F. Church of Nichols and Pfc. James LaDue of Waverly.
This past Monday, Kathy and John Briggs placed 53 wreaths on veteran graves. John has three family members who are veterans. Next year they plan on doing even more. Provided photo.
In Ardennes-Neupre, Belgium is Pfc. Robert Zimmer of Spencer.
Pvt. Raymond Oakes of Newark Valley is buried in Lorraine-St. Avoid, France, and Pfc. Richard Warner, Pvt. William Harding, Pvt. Hugh Gardiner Jr. of Apalachin and Pvt. Robert Baker of Candor are buried in Luxemburg.
In the Netherlands-Margraten are Sgt. Richard Hoyt of Candor, Pvt. Robert Magee of Lounsberry, Pfc. Glenn A. Warner of Owego, and Pfc. Edward Whalen of Straits Corners.
Buried in Cambridge-England is Flight Officer John E. Wright of Nichols, and at the Punchbowl-Honolulu, Hawaii is Pfc. Donald Lester Short of Owego.
Pfc. Henry Meddaugh of Owego is buried in Manila-Philippines, 2nd Lt. John Richard Vlyman of Waverly is buried in Denmark, and Seaman First Class Delmar Dale Sibley of Owego is buried in Pearl Harbor.
Families will place wreaths on the graves of four Modern Warfare Fallen Heroes as follows.
The 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 PO3rd Class Nicholas Wilson is remembered at his memorial in Newark Valley. Army Pfc. Nathan Fairlie is buried in Candor’s Maple Grove Cemetery, and 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.
Tioga County’s first Vietnam casualty was Army Pfc. Gary Lee Faucett of Apalachin, Killed in Action (KIA) on April 1, 1967 in Tay Ninh.
First casualties in the Korean War were Pfc. Robert l. Burke, KIA on Sept. 3, 1950, and Pfc. Raymond U. Short of Owego, USMC, KIA on Nov. 7, 1950 while defending a supply train.
Korean Veteran, 86-year-old Kenneth F. Cornwell of Newark Valley, died on June 7, 2020. The 39-year Chief Lineman for NYSEG was buried in Hope Cemetery. Provided photo.
The first WWII Casualty from Tioga County and Owego was Navy Seaman Delmar Dale Sibley, who is buried aboard the Battleship USS Arizona since Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941.
Ralph Trenchard and children Ryan and Katie and friends 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. Also remembered were Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, especially those from Tioga County during the early Korean War days and still in North Korea.
When the wreaths were laid on Saturday, 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.
The Honor Guard of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, Veterans of Foreign Wars, especially remembered 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 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 VFW on Broad Street. Waverly church bells rang at noon from First Presbyterian, Methodist, and First Baptist.
In Windham, wreath laying took place 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 graced the entrance to Broadway Cemetery on Day Hollow Road in the Town of Owego. Special remembrance wreaths were placed for WWII Navy Fighter Pilot Charles McHenry, who was killed in 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 80th 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 80th 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.
Kathy Briggs did a fantastic wreath job in Hope Cemetery-Newark Valley. Kathy’s father, Ken Cornwell, died in June 2020 and is a veteran of Korea. She has three uncles who served.
Fifty-three wreaths were place in Hope Cemetery, just off of Route 38, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor, thanks to sponsors Scott Smith and Son of Newark Valley and 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 after an explosion caused the ship he was on to sink, killing 123 aboard. 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 while on a search and destroy mission at Tay Ninh Providence, Vietnam. She also placed a wreath 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 on 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 in remembered for heroism on July 30, 1864 at Petersburg, Va. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. QM SGT CAL John Tribe of Halsey Valley is remembered for heroism from Aug. 25, 1862 at Waterloo Bridge, Va. He’s buried in Halsey Valley Cemetery off Hamilton Valley Road. Navy LSD Richard Stout of Owego is honored and remembered for his heroism on Jan. 30, 1863, at Stone River, S.C. He’s buried in Historic Evergreen Cemetery, south of the Historic 80-grave Civil War section.
Also on Saturday, at noon, 257,000 wreaths were placed at Arlington National Cemetery. More than 2.2 million wreaths were placed in 2,557 participating cemeteries in the United States and 25 veteran cemeteries on foreign soil.
Last December 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 – 5,072.
Buried in 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, approximately 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 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 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.”
“Live up to their Legacy” is the theme of the 30th National Wreaths Across America Day.
Please report what you did for your community and recommendations for 2022 to Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars Wreath Chairman Jim Raftis by email to jraftis2@stny.rr.com.
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