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National Wreaths Across America Day took place at over 4,225 participating locations across the country, including Arlington National Cemetery. This year, the event came to Las Cruces as volunteers remembered veterans who had passed away. At Hillcrest Memorial Gardens Cemetery, volunteers read the names of the veterans as they laid a wreath upon each grave.
Across the country more than three million veterans were recognized this way this year.
According to a press release, for centuries fresh evergreens have been used to symbolize honor and as a living tribute renewed annually. Wreaths Across America maintains the tradition represents a living memorial that honors veterans, active-duty military and their families; that when volunteers say the name of a veteran aloud while placing a wreath, it ensures they live on in others’ hearts and memories.
Veteran Karen Woods and the Military Women of the Southwest in Las Cruces made the event happen at Hillcrest by raising funds for the 192 wreaths distributed there. Woods went to El Paso herself to pick up the wreaths and bring them back on Saturday, Dec. 16.
But Woods, who served in the Navy from 1974 to 1985, said they don’t do it for the recognition.
“It’s to honor our veterans,” she said. “It’s about these guys here. Please remember, take the ‘I’ out of it, it’s not about that.”
She said there was a man who had come to lay a wreath on his father’s grave and then on his brother’s grave.
“You know how meaningful that is, when you talk to someone who has laid a wreath on the grave of a loved one,” she said. “Let us be mindful of the respect we give our fallen veterans. Let them (the veterans) know they are never alone, hold them in your heart or in your thoughts or in your prayers.”
More information about the year-long mission is available via WreathsAcrossAmerica.org. National Wreaths Across America Day 2024 in observed on Saturday, Dec. 14 of next year.
To get in touch with the local United Military Women of the Southwest, the contact is Heidi Blair at hlbliving@gmail.com.
