MNVM to host wreath ceremony

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The color green will join the patriotic colors of red, white and blue this weekend. Past and present veterans will be honored at the Wreaths Across America ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 18 at the Missouri National Veterans Memorial Wall in Perryville. The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m.
For MNVM Wreaths Across America coordinator Stan Shurmantine, it is a way to honor veterans during the Christmas season.
“I think the best part is the education of what our veterans and military members do for this country,” he said. “The younger generation needs to know how and why the United States is free and the cost of that freedom. It’s something that is great to do during the Christmas season because there are still many military that is not home for the holidays.”
This will be the fourth year that Perryville has participated in the event.
Wreaths Across America is a national program that involves community members purchasing wreaths and donating them to decorate graves for veterans and serve as memorials for them during the holidays. The program started as a project in Maine but quickly gained popularity and became a nationwide event.

In the first year, 58 wreaths were sponsored by community members in Perryville to donate as memorials for fallen veterans. The second year greatly exceeded those as 162 wreaths were sponsored. The third year, the goal was to have at least 150 wreaths and it went past that goal with 161 wreaths again for 2020. The goal for 2021 is to have another 150 and the sponsorships are well on their way to that number with 127 as of Tuesday.
The wreaths can be picked up by the family themselves once they arrive, or they will be placed on a veteran’s grave in a local cemetery. The wreaths for the ceremony will be brought in at 11 a.m. and will coincide with the other ceremonies around the country that day, so they all happen at the same time.
In year’s past, seven wreaths would be placed at the foot of the veterans wall by local military members to signify the individual branches of military, along with MIAs and POWs. That will be done once again at the wall itself contingent on good weather. There will be no guest speaker, but there will be speeches made by local staff at the MNVM.
Shurmantine noted that people of all ages will be able to get something out of the ceremony however, big or small.
“It’s one of my favorite events,” he said. “My family has a history of military service and my 13-year-old grandson is already talking about doing something within the military. It is things like that, which are important to the survival of our great nation.”