Wreaths Across America helps locals ‘remember, honor, teach’

Family, friends and others were able to pay tribute in recent days to veterans with the annual Wreaths Across America event that saw balsam wreaths laid upon grave markers at 10 local cemeteries.

Events stretched across the North Olympic Peninsula, from Gardiner to Forks, and headlined by a public ceremony at Mt. Angeles Memorial Park on Dec. 17.

Part of a national initiative to honor veterans of military service, the ceremony saw individual branches of the military recognized followed by the placement of more than 2,300 wreaths for servicemen and women.

The ceremonies culminated Monday morning (Dec. 19) with a small gathering at Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Cemetery, where about a dozen wreaths were set alongside grave markers of tribal member veterans — most of the by family members.

In preparation for the ceremony, three members of the Michael Trebert Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution visited the Jamestown cemetery in September to clean the veteran grave markers using the “Do No Harm” preservation method that refreshes the marker while preserving the material.

Judy Tordini, regent for the Michael Trebert Chapter, said Wreaths Across America (WAA) events were held at about 3,600 locations across the U.S. this year.

“We are showing a united front of gratitude and respect across the United State of America as we remember the fallen, honor those who served and their families, and teach the next generation the value of our freedom,” she said in presenting the wreaths at the Jamestown cemetery Monday morning.

She encouraged those in attendance to say the veterans name out loud, and then take a moment to thank them for their service.

“It is a small act that goes a long way toward keeping the memory of our veterans alive,” Tordini said.

“Each wreath is a gift from a grateful nation.”

The balsam wreaths at the cemeteries — Blue Mountain, Dungeness, St. Luke’s columbarium, Forks, Gardiner, Mount Angeles, Pioneer Memorial Park, Sequim View and the Zaccardo family’s private cemetery — will be picked up and recycled at Lazy J Tree Farm between Sequim and Port Angeles, Tordini noted.

She said it was the second year the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe council sought to take part in laying wreaths but it has become a bigger event thanks in part to Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Allie R. Taylor’s efforts.

WAA sprang from a gesture in 1992 from Worchester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine, when its surplus wreaths were shipped to Washington, D.C. They were placed on headstones in an older section of the Arlington National Cemetery.

In 2005, when WAA appeared on the internet with a sobering photo of thousands of snow-covered wreaths on Arlington headstones, interest and donations mushroomed.

The organization’s mission is to “Remember, Honor and Teach.”

Learn more about Wreaths Across America at wreathsacrossamerica.org.

Veterans (from left) Fred Grinnell, Michael Lowe and Victor Knickerbocker offer a military salute as they honor veterans at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Cemetery on Dec. 19.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Veterans (from left) Fred Grinnell, Michael Lowe and Victor Knickerbocker honor veterans at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Cemetery on Dec. 19.

SEQUIM GAZETTE PHOTOS BY MICHAEL DASHIELL Veteran Victor Knickerbocker pays tribute to his uncle Dale Cope at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Cemetery on Dec. 19.

From left Fred and Elaine Grinnell join Anita Reynolds in honoring veteran Chadwick V. Judson at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Cemetery on Dec. 19. Reynolds and fellow members of the Michael Trebert Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution helped pay tribute to veterans with Wreaths Across America events at 10 cemeteries across the North Olympic Peninsula.