Wreaths Across America at the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery 2020

Wreaths Across America is an organization that has a mission to place a holiday wreath on each fallen heroes grave across America. They rely on local civic groups, scout troops, school & church groups, corporate sponsors, as well as everyday citizens to help them with fundraising for the project. Currently they have 2100+ cemeteries enrolled in the program...and growing!

Last year we learned about this program after losing my brother-in-law who was a United States veteran. Once we learned about it we volunteered our time to help lay wreaths on the veterans graves at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. You can read our previous post from 2019 to learn more about our first experience working with the group.

The year 2020 has been challenging for most of us due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. It had been announced a few months ago that the program would be cancelled due to it. Well...fast forward a few weeks and thousands of volunteers and the program was back on! We wee more than happy to participate again this year. 

 

Twenty-Four hours before we were to participate we got tackled by a major snow storm in the northeast. We personally received 10" of snow mixed with sleet. Everything was a mess! After shoveling out we made the 40 minute drive to Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery and were ready to begin.

Volunteers were given instructions on how we were to walk around the graves in the cemetery and how to respect them. There were explicit instructions on how we were to carry the Christmas wreaths and lay them onto the grave after we had shoveled a space. We grouped up into teams and each team worked in a specific area.

We spent 4 1/2 hours out in the cold weather working with one another to complete the project. Everyone was really nice and you could tell that everyone was happy to be there. It's important that we always remember our fallen heroes and veterans. Freedom isn't free! 

Here's a few photographs that we took on December 18th, 2020 while participating in the Wreaths Across America program at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. We were honored and proud to have contributed even in this small way.