This year's Wreaths Across America ceremony will be held at the Chattanooga National Cemetery, starting at noon on Saturday. Seven ceremonial wreaths will be placed to remember all soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who served, honor their sacrifices and teach younger generations about the high cost of freedom
Local representatives of each branch of the military will participate in the ceremony, laying specially designed wreaths for the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and POW/MIA, during a ceremony that will be coordinated simultaneously at over 400 participating locations all across the country.
This is the eighth year of the wreath sponsorship campaign. More than a dozen non-profit groups, including several chapters of the Sons of the American Revolution, daughters of the American Revolution and the Civil Air Patrol have been seeking sponsors for fresh wreaths to decorate the graves at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. In 2012, it was projected that over 400,000 wreaths were placed nationwide, by over 150,00 volunteers as part of Wreaths Across America mission to Remember, Honor, Teach.
More then 200 local volunteers will be placing over 750 sponsored wreaths on grave sites including several youth groups such as Girls Scouts of America , Young Marines, Signal Mountain Sea Cadets, JROTC, among others.
Richard Dyer, Capt., Civil Air Patrol is the area WAA Event Coordinator for this years event and welcomes all members of the community to join in the wreath laying. Many parents and youth organizations also use this as a teaching opportunity. Please allow enough time to arrive prior to the noon start time. After the initial 45-minute ceremony, attendees will move to the selected cemetery location to place the 750 wreaths on individual headstones.
Organizers said, "Please join us on Saturday."
For more information you may contact Capt. Dyer at richard@epbfi.com or 423 698-5402 or by going to the WAA website wreathsacrossamerica.org.