Area residents who want to help remember or honor veterans buried in Red Bay or Halltown have until Nov. 13 to purchase wreaths for the Wreaths Across America program.
This is the third year the Red Bay American Legion Post 120 is participating in the Wreaths Across America program, and organizer Frankie Smith said the Post’s goal is to have a wreath placed on the gravesite of every veteran buried in Red Bay City Cemetery, Hillcrest Memorial Gardens and Halltown Cemetery. The live wreaths will be placed in cemeteries across the United States on Dec. 19.
Wreaths are available for $15 each, and families can purchase them for their family members or loved ones. Additionally, anyone wishing to make donations to help supply wreaths for those veterans buried here but who may no longer have family in the area can do so as well. The organization is looking to cover approximately 300 wreaths in these three cemeteries alone.
“The people buying the wreaths don’t have to be veterans themselves,” Smith said. “Individuals or businesses can buy wreaths or make donations and that will help make sure we have every veteran’s grave covered in these three cemeteries.”
Smith said Post 120 may look to expand beyond these three cemeteries in the coming years, but needed to make sure they had every veteran covered in these three before considering other cemeteries.
Wreaths can be purchased by completing information found on the form printed in The Red Bay News, by downloading and completing the form attached here, or by picking up forms at Red Bay City Hall. Both the money and the form can be left at those locations.
Wreaths Across America (WAA), is the non-profit organization best known for placing veterans’ wreaths on the headstones of our nation’s fallen at Arlington National Cemetery. Today the organization, in total, places more than 2 million sponsored veterans’ wreaths at over 2,200 participating locations nationwide.
