DECEMBER 16, 2019 – During the season of holly and happy, a Wreaths Across America (WAA) wreath laying event promotes paying homage to those who have served and passed on with a ceremony held at Miramar National Cemetery, Dec. 14.
Active duty service members, veterans, family and other members of the community made sure to not let anyone buried here be forgotten during the holidays.
“The overall goal is to remember”
Jared Howard, director of Miramar and Rosencrantz cemeteries, encouraged those in attendance to recognize each person.
“Lay a wreath and say the name of the person that’s interred there before moving on to the next,” said Howard. “Every veteran can die two deaths. The first is unavoidable, it’s the physical death. The second is when they’re forgotten.”
Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar, commander, Navy Region Southwest, served as guest speaker for the ceremony and also encouraged the audience to not forget the fallen service members.
The annual national wreath-laying ceremony honored veterans, Merchant Marines, Prisoners of War as well as those still Missing in Action (POW/MIA). Local representatives for each were on deck to ceremoniously place a wreath in remembrance of fallen servicemembers. These wreaths were then taken to adorn the base of the POW/MIA statue located at the cemetery.
The event is supported by local chapters, an endowment, volunteers and donations.
These contributions made it possible for 3,000 wreaths to be placed onto Miramar National Cemetery’s headstones this year.
Alison King, location co-leader for WAA here in San Diego and a member of Daughters of the American Revolution iterates the importance of teaching our youth in support of WAA’s mission: remember our fallen U.S. veterans, honor those who serve and teach your children the value of freedom.
“We encourage the children to attend because we want them to see the value of our veterans,” said King, “this is a very significant part of being an American citizen, being supportive of our military.”
Some buried here were fortunate enough to have their own children in attendance.
Sheryl D. Watson a Navy veteran who met her husband, Michael L. Watson, a recently deceased Navy veteran, attends her first WAA ceremony today with her grandchildren. When speaking of her experience she is reminded of how she feels since his death in July, 2019.
“We met in Orlando, in boot camp almost 41 years ago,” said Watson. “I feel like I always feel – I always feel lost without him.”
The emotion invoked by mourning fallen servicemembers was the catalyst of a single man’s gesture that would spearhead a national initiative.
Inspiration for the WAA campaign goes back to when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company, visited Arlington National Cemetery as a 12-year-old boy and was moved by what he saw that day. In 1992, Worcester Wreath Company had a surplus of wreaths at the end of the holidays which Worcester saw as an opportunity show gratitude.
Taking to from his childhood experience, he took to honor our country’s veterans by coordinating wreaths be laid at a less visited section of Arlington National Cemetery. This would continue for years to come.
Shortly after the first wreath laying, Veterans Service Organizations joined his gesture and added the red bows as is seen in today’s WAA wreath. In 2005, upon the viral circulation of a photo of the wreathed headstones, interest spread across the nation. By 2007, the Worcester Family along with veterans and civilian volunteers formed the nonprofit organization that is now known as Wreaths Across America.
Similar ceremonies in support of the WAA initiative were conducted on participating military and private cemeteries across the country and beyond. More than 700,000 memorial wreaths will be laid at over 1,000 locations around the world.
Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Natalia Murillo
Navy Reserve – Navy Public Affairs Support Element West