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Honoring Our Veterans
Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: December 2023
The Plateau will pause to honor our fallen veterans with Wreaths Across America, Saturday, December 16.
Highlands’ resident Phil Potts has a particularly poignant reason for remembering that Saturday, December 16, is the annual national holiday, Wreaths Across America – a day to come together as a nation and lay wreaths on the graves of our fallen heroes:
“Honoring veterans is very personal to me. “My father, three uncles, grandfather, great grandfather, and many cousins are interred in the cemeteries we are supporting. By placing a wreath and saying their names we make sure they are never forgotten for their service and sacrifice.”
Karen Worcester, the executive director, and co-founder of Wreaths Across America, and her husband, Morrill, started placing wreaths on the graves of deceased military men and women in 1992 in their home state of Maine. By 2005, the tradition had grown nationally and by 2007, the organization became incorporated as a nonprofit. In 2022 the organization placed more than 2.7 million sponsored veteran wreaths at more than 3700 participating locations nationwide.
Through the program, people can sponsor wreaths, which are then donated to local cemeteries. And, every year, on the third Saturday in December, volunteers across the country place the wreaths on the headstones of our fallen heroes. It is a day of remembrance and honor, to remember the sacrifices made by so many to defend our freedom. Parents often bring their children and grandparents frequently take their grandchildren to teach the next generation the value of veterans and their service in the hopes that the memory will live on.
Potts, the area coordinator of the Friends of Highlands Chapter of Wreaths Across America, said, “The theme for this, our seventh-year honoring veterans, is ‘Serve and Succeed.’ The goal is to place 575 wreaths at the following cemeteries: Highlands, Scaly Methodist, Scaly Baptist, Horse Cove, Macedonia (Satulah), Clear Creek, Buck Creek, Mt. Moriah (Goldmine), and Miller.” Additional wreaths are provided for area family cemeteries.
Wreaths can be sponsored for $17 each. Order forms are available for download at either their Facebook page or at wreathsacrossamerica.org. Printed forms are also available at the Highlands United Methodist Church, Highlands Recreation Park, and the Highlands Decorating Center.
The Ceremony will take place at the Highlands Recreation Park, 600 North 4th Street at 12:00 P.M. on December 16. Following the ceremony at the Recreation Park, shuttles will take volunteers to and from the cemetery to lay veteran wreaths.
