By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – It’s the first thing visitors see as they enter the cemetery. Hundreds of donated Christmas wreaths adorned with red bows now decorate the graves in the veterans’ section of Forest Glade Cemetery, thanks to the Wreaths Across America program and the volunteers who attended Saturday’s wreath-laying ceremony.
Scores of local residents combined patriotism and the spirit of Christmas by participating in the annual holiday event honoring veterans of the armed services who have passed on.
Paul Cancelliere, chairman of the Veterans Advisory Board, welcomed those in attendance.
“Today, we join thousands of Americans to honor more than 2 million veterans and their families by placing wreaths at over 4,000 local, national and military cemeteries as well as veterans memorials and historic sites across the country,” Cancelliere said. “This effort is accomplished with help from some 2 million volunteers from across the country, one-third of whom are children and young adults. Thank you for joining us here today as we remember the fallen, honor those that served, and teach the next generation the value of freedom.”
Cancelliere also thanked the many Wakefield residents who donated time and money to the effort. This year, nearly 450 wreaths were donated.
Father Thomas Riley of the Lazarus Center for Healing (formerly St. Florence Church) offered a prayer for the souls of all who have fought for our freedoms.
“Let’s be thankful especially for religious freedom,” Father Riley said. “Our founding fathers recognized that religious freedom is the basis for all other freedoms.”
Cancelliere talked about the origin and growth of the Wreaths across America movement.
In 1992, the Worcester Wreath Company of Maine had a surplus at the end of the Christmas season. Recalling an inspirational boyhood trip to Arlington National Cemetery, company founder Morrill Worcester donated 5,000 wreaths to honor the cemetery’s dead. After thirteen years of similar donations, in 2005 a photo of snowy gravestones covered with wreaths at the cemetery went viral on the internet. Thousands of people contacted Worcester, wanting to replicate the wreath-laying service at their own veterans’ cemeteries.
By the end of 2006, Worcester’s company was supplying wreaths to over 230 state and national cemeteries and veterans’ monuments across the country. Over 150 different locations simultaneously held ceremonies with Arlington’s. In the ensuing years, the movement has continued to grow by leaps and bounds.
Cancelliere then pointed to the eight wreaths mounted on stands near the front of the veterans’ section recognizing each of the military branches as well prisoners of war and those missing in action. Flags were then posted on each of the eight wreaths.
Bill Curran posted the American and POW-MIA flags on one of the wreaths.
Dan Benjamin posted the U.S. Army and American Flags.
Dennis Fazio posted flags on the U.S. Marine Corps wreath.
Marion Dennehy posted flags for the U.S. Navy.
Wakefield Veterans Services Officer Davis Mangan posted the U.S. Air Force flag.
Wakefield Memorial High School senior Caroline Dill placed the flags on the U.S. Space Force wreath and WMHS senior Lilah Hathaway posted the U.S. Coast Guard flags.
John Bohling posted the flags for the Merchant Marines.
Cancelliere then introduced the day’s guest speaker, Town Councilor Ed Dombroski.
“Today, on this National Wreaths Across America Day, each of you are part of something very special,” Dombroski said.
He spoke of Wreaths Across America’s mission to “Remember, Honor, and Teach.”
“We remember the fallen. We honor those who serve. We teach the next generation the value of freedom,” Dombroski said.
“Each wreath you lay moments from now is in honor of a person you likely never met or didn’t even know, but whose bravery indelibly shaped the future — the lives we are each living today. Lives of freedom. Lives free of oppression.
“Now, for all the political discord and divisive rhetoric we may hear today, we must never forget that we are blessed to live in the greatest country this world has ever known,” Dombroski continued. “Despite our differences, we proudly pledge allegiance to one flag, a flag that unites us all as Americans above all else, as one nation, and celebrates the cause of freedom. The heroes at eternal rest here served under the flag with pride and honor.
“Our service members here and those across our great land are special,” Dombroski added. “Theirs is a debt we can never repay. But we each still have a role to play. We can always recognize and respect…just as each of you are doing by being here today — a day to remember, honor, and teach.”
To conclude the formal ceremony, “Taps” was played by WMHS seniors Lilah Hathaway and Caroline Dill.
Scores of volunteers then gathered up wreaths and fanned out across the veterans sections to lay wreaths at the graves of those who served.