South County residents will have an opportunity next month to honor U.S. veterans buried in local cemeteries. Remembrance ceremonies will be held in Gilroy and Morgan Hill on Dec. 13 at 9 a.m. simultaneously with a national observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Approximately 700 wreaths will be distributed to veterans’ graves in Gilroy’s St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery and Gavilan Hills Memorial Park adjacent to each other at 1000 First St. An additional 300 wreaths will be placed on veterans’ graves in Morgan Hill’s Mt. Hope Cemetery at 250 Spring Ave.
Gilroy’s observance will feature remarks by Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman and Gilroy Mayor Don Gage. In addition, there will be patriotic music, a color guard and “Taps” played by a bugler. A similar ceremony will be held at the same time in Morgan Hill where Mayor Steve Tate will speak.
Afterward, participants at both events will be invited to fan out across the acres of graves to reverently place wreaths on the tombstones of veterans.
Residents can contribute to this effort in several ways.
– Volunteer to walk the cemeteries beforehand to confirm gravesite locations or on the day of the event to place wreaths.
– Spread the word to friends and neighbors, encouraging them to participate.
– Donate $15 to sponsor a wreath. Although nearly 550 wreaths have been sponsored, approximately 450 more wreaths are needed to complete this project. Anyone interested in contributing can call or email Mark Turner at (408) 221-6203 or mt*****@gi****.org, or Tere Johnson at (408) 406-3001 or te**********@ao*.com. Donations can also be made online at the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce website at gilroy.org. All contributions are tax deductible.
These South Valley observances are part of a nationwide effort sponsored by Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Harrington, Maine. In 1992, Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company, found he had a surplus of wreaths as the holiday season neared its end and decided to donate them to be placed on veterans’ graves in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A number of other organizations and individuals stepped in to help with this project, which included a special ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The annual tribute continued, and in 2005 a photo of Arlington’s tombstones adorned with wreaths appeared online. Suddenly, thousands of requests poured in asking to help with the Arlington project or to replicate it elsewhere.
Worcester couldn’t donate thousands of wreaths to each site, but the following year, wreath-laying ceremonies were held at 150 locations nationally. The next year, Wreaths Across America was formed as a nonprofit organization to support its mission to:
– Remember fallen heroes.
– Honor those who served this country.
– Teach children about the sacrifices made by veterans and their families to preserve freedom.
Last year, WAA and a national network of volunteers laid more than 540,000 memorial wreaths at more than 900 locations in the United States and beyond; ceremonies were held at the Pearl Harbor Memorial, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and the sites of the Sept. 11 tragedies, all accomplished through financial contributions and donations of trucking, shipping and thousands of helping hands.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who have served and who currently serve America’s Armed Forces,” said Mark Turner with the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce. “They, along with their families, made and continue to make sacrifices to secure the freedoms we enjoy today. Laying wreaths on veterans’ graves in our local cemeteries in December is just a small way of saying, ‘Thank you.’”
