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. 17 at the Missouri National Veterans Memorial Wall in Perryville. The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m.
For MNVM Executive Director Rae Lynn Munoz, it is a way to honor veterans during the Christmas season.
“It started as a simple gesture of thanks that has grown into a national movement of dedicated volunteers and communities that come together to remember the fallen and other military members and honor their service,” Munoz said. “It’s also a teaching opportunity for the next generation about sacrifice that so many made for us to live freely.”
This will be the fifth 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. At last count there were 80 wreaths sponsored for this year’s event with more on the way.
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 Munoz herself.
She noted that people of all ages will be able to get something out of the ceremony however, big or small.
“For me personally, this event is all about the teaching opportunity,” she said. “I am a mother and I have young children. It’s organizations like Wreaths Across America and the memorial here that give the young people the opportunity to see the sacrifices. It’s one thig to tell a story of a service member, but when you have something tangible that you can bring your family to, it’s a little different. They can see what these heroes have done.”
