Wreath ceremony scheduled Saturday
Jim Bandish, a Vietnam veteran, stands in front of all ceremonial wreaths at the close of the Wreaths Across America program last year at Laurel Point Cemetery. Bandish served as master of ceremonies last year and will do the same at this year’s program at noon Saturday.
Don Voytek, a Vietnam veteran, laid wreaths in honor of the POW/MIA during last year’s Wreaths Across America ceremony at Laurel Point Cemetery in Carmichaels. The program this year will be at noon Saturday, also at Laurel Point.
CARMICHAELS – Members of the Carmichaels community and surrounding areas will gather together to honor veterans during the holiday season as part of the annual Wreaths Across America Day.
The Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club has volunteered to conduct the ceremony this year at noon Saturday at Laurel Point Cemetery. Seven ceremonial wreaths will be placed to remember those who served, honor their sacrifices and teach younger generations about the high cost of freedom.
American Legion Post 400 Honor Guard and Carmichaels Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3491 will be participating in the wreath-laying ceremony.
Specially designated wreaths for the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and POW/MIA will be placed on memorials during a ceremony that will be coordinated simultaneously at more than 750 participating locations across the country.
The second Saturday in December will mark the 20th anniversary of Maine wreaths being donated to be placed on headstones at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. In addition to these ceremonial wreaths, a number of civic groups around the country have joined with Wreaths Across America to promote sponsored wreaths to be placed on veterans’ graves in designated sections of participating cemeteries.
Each year, the sections are rotated to eventually include all veterans. In 2012, it is projected more than 400,000 wreaths will be placed nationwide by 150,000 volunteers as part of the Wreaths Across America mission to “Remember, Honor and Teach.”
For more information, visit www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org.