Wreaths Across America in Ashland this Saturday
Pamela Hall
Ashland Beacon
Wreaths Across America will take place in Ashland this weekend for the first time. The event is being organized locally by the Poage Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Daughters of the American Revolution), Cheryl Spriggs, Regent, with Marcia Zachem, Vice Regent, as the chairperson for the event. It will take place at the Ashland Cemetery located on Belmont Street Saturday, Dec. 16 at noon.
“We are very pleased to participate in Wreaths Across America this year,” Zachem said. “We anticipate that the ceremony will grow and we will be able to honor more veterans each year.”
Wreaths Across America is a nonprofit organization that began in 2007 with the purpose honoring American Veterans by placing wreaths on their graves. It was started as an expansion of the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, which began in 1992 by Morrill Worcester. Wreaths Across America has grown to include ceremonies in over 4000 cemeteries in all 50 states and all U.S. territories, and involves over 2 million volunteers. The theme for this year is “Serve & Succeed.”
The event this Saturday will include a ceremony by the Poage Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution and will involve several local organizations, including the Junior ROTC from Ashland Paul Blazer High School, Boy Scout Troop 168 from Flatwoods and the American Legion, in addition to several local dignitaries and individual volunteers. Balsam wreaths will be placed on nearly 90 graves of local veterans, which were purchased with donated funds by local residents.
A wreath will be placed for the founding family of Ashland, the Poage family, in addition to a veteran’s grave representing each branch of the American Armed Forces. Some wreaths will also be placed by family members who donated to honor their loved one who served.
Although this is the first year for Wreaths Across America in Ashland, one local resident has honored a family member for the past few years by placing a wreath in her yard for an uncle that served in WW II.
Jerri Williams learned several years ago about an uncle killed in the Battle of Saipan in the South Pacific during WW II. PFC James Messer, her paternal uncle who was originally from Carter County, died July 8 1944, at the age of 22. He was buried in Honolulu, Hawaii at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
“I had heard about Wreaths Across America,” said Williams, “Although I didn’t know much about the organization or the program, I just felt a pressing urge to honor my uncle.”
With no local grave to decorate to honor him, Williams decided about five years ago to place a wreath in her yard during the holiday season each year in his memory. She places a fresh pine wreath with a red bow and adds a small American flag at the base and a spotlight so it can be seen.
Williams also has a memorial inside her home for her uncle. A wooden frame with an eagle at the top holds a picture and news clipping from a Portsmouth newspaper where he resided before joining the military. The frame also holds a picture of his grave stone from the cemetery in Hawaii. The picture was taken by a friend of hers who vacationed there and visited her uncle’s grave in her stead.
Williams plans to participate in the Wreaths Across America ceremony on Saturday in memory of her uncle.
Volunteers are asked to be at the cemetery at 11:15 on Saturday. There will be a registration table for those volunteering and for those attending. The Boy Scouts will assist in directing places to park and where to register.
Let’s honor our veterans this Saturday at noon at the Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Ashland Cemetery on Belmont Street.
