Orange County’s Veterans Memorial Cemetery will host a Wreaths Across America ceremony at 12 p.m. on Sat., Dec. 14. Wreaths can be purchased until Mon., Nov. 25 at the Veterans Service Agency (VSA), located at 111 Craigville Road in Goshen. Wreaths are $15 each or three for $30. Sponsor donations in any amount are also welcome. Checks can be made out to “Nam Knights M/C” with WAA 2019 written on the memo line. Wreaths can also be purchased at www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.com utilizing cemetery code NYOCVM.
The VSA is also seeking volunteers for the ceremony. The 19-acre Veterans Memorial Cemetery has 12,500 plots. Approximately 3,400 men and women are buried there, including 2,700 veterans.
The tradition of laying wreaths to honor veterans began in 1992, when Morrill Worcester, the owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, had extra wreaths at the end of the holiday season. Worcester remembered a boyhood trip to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and decided to donate 5,000 wreaths to be placed on the headstones of an older section of the cemetery.
For more information about the County’s Wreaths Across America ceremony, contact Dave Andryshak at 494-3768.
