South San Francisco, CA December 17, 2017 Stacey Turpin contributed to this story
Yesterday, all across our country, wreaths were placed on our veteran’s graves to honor them at Christmas time and the annual event at our local Golden Gate National Cemetery was once again busy with activity. Local columnist Carolyn Livengood covered this event for years because her personal passion was to remember and honor our veterans and this year her absence was felt after her passing in October. Carolyn served as the President of the Avenue of Flags Committee which is a “patriotic feature at a veterans cemetery and reinforces patriotism, national pride and represents a visible, bold and proud display of flags” She would be proud of those who came together yesterday, carrying on this national tradition.
South City resident Stacey Turpin was one of the locals who spent the day at the cemetery “I was honoring and remembering our military today for Wreaths Across America at GGNC.” she said “I was able to get a couple of pictures with Sign Hill in the background and wanted to share the importance of this event with others.”
Photo credit: Stacey Turpin
A bit more background on this event can be gleaned from an article written by Carolyn in 2015 for the Mercury News which in part says;
Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, conceived the idea for Wreaths Across America in 1992 when his company had a surplus of wreaths near the end of the holiday season. He decided to honor our country’s veterans and made arrangements for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
“In 2008, over 300 locations held wreath laying ceremonies in every state, Puerto Rico, and 24 overseas cemeteries,” as written on the WAA website. “Over 100,000 wreaths were placed on veteran’s graves. Over 60,000 volunteers participated. Dec. 13, 2008, was unanimously voted by the U.S. congress as ‘Wreaths Across America Day.’”
We thank those who took time out of this busy holiday season to participate in this event. Never forgotten, we will remember them all.
For more about Wreaths Across America on our website PLEASE CLICK HERE
Wreathes Across America -Their mission, Remember, Honor, Teach, is carried out in part by coordinating wreath laying ceremonies in veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states, and beyond. There are around 900 wreathes at this cemetery