PENDLETON — A wreath with a red bow can be a simple decoration, but on Saturday at Pendleton’s Grove Lawn Cemetery, the wreath represented remembrance and thanks for those who served in the armed forces.
“The freedoms we enjoy have not come without a high price,” U.S. Army Col. David Skalon said during the first local Wreaths Across America event.
“In these graves and cemeteries throughout this nation are men and women who gave their lives so that we may live in freedom and without fear. We honor them today with a symbol of our gratitude.”
About 100 people attended the event. After the ceremony, dozens of family members, friends and other volunteers dispersed through the cemetery, placing about 200 wreaths at the graves of late service members.
Story continues below photos.
The event was organized by Kikthawenund Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a non-profit organization based in Anderson that serves all of Madison County.
Wreaths Across America is also a nonprofit organization, founded in 1992 to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
According to the organization, Grove Lawn — as well Maplewood Cemetery in Anderson — were among 4,225 participating locations nationwide on Saturday, which it calls Wreaths Across America Day.
At Grove Lawn, wreaths were placed on stands honoring the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard, Coast Guard, and Prisoners of War/Missing in Action.
There was a minute of silence, presentation of colors, and opening remarks by Pendleton Town Council President Marissa Skaggs, who said the wreaths served a “reminder of sacrifice.”
Chris Caddell, co-chairwoman of the DAR chapter’s Wreaths Across America committee, said the 200 wreaths placed on Saturday represent about a third of the total needed to put a wreath on the grave of everyone who served.
“Our goal, of course, is to honor every veteran,” she said.
It cost $17 to buy a wreath, and they could be purchased for a specified or non-specified veteran.
Of the 200 sold this year, 37 were purchased for specified veterans.
Jo and Dennis Scott purchased four wreaths in memory of family members and a family friend who served.
They walked through the cemetery — Jo with her mother, Iris Parker, holding one of her arms, and Dennis carrying the wreaths on one of his. They stopped to place a wreath at the graves of Jo’s dad, uncle, great-uncle and a family friend.
Jo later said she was impressed with the ceremony, and that stopping at each grave, saying the person’s name, and pausing in silence, along with placing the wreath, “meant a lot to me.”
It showed “the importance of the respect that they are owed.”
She said her mother, who is 94, also “was moved by it. She was happy that she was able to attend.”
Jonathan McClure, Pendleton Heights High School girls soccer coach, participated along with a couple of team families.
He said when he heard about the event, he “more than anything felt called to show a debt of gratitude to our service members.”
Sisters Lily and Maycie Wilson were two Pendleton Heights students who participated, along with mother, Jessica Gard.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Lily said, noting that her dad is a veteran.
She said likes that the event enables people to honor veterans who might not have anyone else to do it.
“I think it’s a good thing to do,” Maycie said.
Missy Kelley of Anderson, a DAR member worked with husband Stanley Nolen to place wreaths on graves, said she thinks the event is “an amazing thing.
“I’m so happy that they’re doing one local that we can do,” she said.
Honoring veterans “is just something we should do more,” she said. “They’ve made our country what it is.”
Caddell said the plan is to grow wreath sales to the point where the grave of every veteran receives a wreath. If that doesn’t happen next year, she said, the organization will place the non-specified wreaths on graves starting on the opposite side of the cemetery.
DAR — motto “God, Home, Country” — has as its stated missions: historic preservation, education and patriotism.
Wreaths Across America’s stated year-’round mission is “Remember, Honor, Teach,” which it says is carried out in part by coordinating the wreath ceremonies.
