Honoring fallen soldiers

Posted

By VICKI BROWN

The Wreaths Across America trucks stopped in Jacksonboro on December 18 to caravan with volunteers traveling to the National Cemetery in Beaufort to lay wreaths on graves.

With a law enforcement escort, four big rigs sponsored by Rawlings Trucking and Pepsi carried thousands of wreaths to Beaufort to honor the fallen soldiers. Because of the numerous donations, volunteers were able to place wreaths on all of the 28,000 graves in the cemetery.

Most of those volunteers were motorcycle clubs from all of the Lowcountry. Patriot Guard Riders and several hundred motorcycles, some decorated with American flags, participated in the caravan. Most of the volunteers are veterans themselves.

According to National Wreaths Across America, wreaths were laid at 3,136 participating locations across the country. The nation's heroes were remembered as each name was said aloud and honored as over 525 truckloads of wreaths were delivered and over two million volunteers, a third of whom were children, helped placed more than 2.4 million veterans' wreaths on headstones of America’s fallen across the country.

At Arlington National Cemetery, the Wreaths Across America program saw 66 tractor trailers deliver over 250,000 veterans' wreaths that were placed by nearly 38,000 volunteers.

This was the 30th year that veterans' wreaths have been placed there, a tradition started by Maine wreathmaker Morrill Worcester as a gift of thanks.

Next year's National Wreaths Across America Day will be held on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022.