TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The annual Wreaths Across America ceremony is set for Saturday at noon at the Tallahassee National Cemetery to honor fallen service members and veterans.
- The event will serve as an educational event for cadets in the Tallahassee Composite Squadron of the Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol as they will assist with placing wreaths and serve as color guard.
- More than 5,200 more ceremonies are set to take place across the country on Saturday.
- Watch the video below to learn what the ceremony means for the volunteers and organizers behind the local ceremony in Tallahassee.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Collection for Wreaths Across America in Tallahassee takes all year, and for cadets with the Tallahassee Composite Squadron of the Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol, so does preparation.
Commander Amy Mitchell says the non-profit, volunteer sector of the U.S. Air Force is made up of youth and senior members aged 12 and older.
“We have cadets who will be out here serving as the color guard for the event. We also have cadets who will be serving as wreath attendants,” she said.
Wreaths Across America is one of their most educational volunteer events of the year.
Around Christmas time, the effort honors fallen heroes and veterans by laying wreaths over their headstones at the Tallahassee National Cemetery and saying their names.
More than 5,200 ceremonies like this will take place across the country this year.
“This is an opportunity for our cadets to come out to meet veterans from all across the country, to meet families who have been impacted by military service, and to learn what has been given so that they have the freedoms and the rights that they have now,” Mitchells said.
Community sponsors paid about $17 for each wreath.
Locally, 4,581 wreaths were sponsored.
That's about 1,500 more than last year's total.
“The process actually began in 1992 when Morrill Worcester of the Worcester Wreath Company in Columbia Falls, Maine had an overrun of wreaths…he called Arlington cemetery… and they let him come out and they laid 5,000 wreaths,” Capt. Wayne Hooks, the Wreaths Across America location coordinator for the Tallahassee National cemetery said.
Despite its humble beginnings, the event draws hundreds of neighbors each year.
“It really is a very solemn event,” Mitchell said. “I have two children who are cadets in the program and they kind of describe it as one of their favorite events because of the impact it has on the community.”
“That's kind of why I do this,” Hooks said. “If we choose to honor that person, they have the potential for immortality. I’m trying to get these guys immortality.”
The official wreath ceremony starts at noon this Saturday at the Tallahassee National Cemetery. Neighbors are encouraged to arrive early.
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