17/11/2019
Since 1992, hand-made Christmas Wreaths have been placed upon the graves of fallen Military & Veterans across the United States. Last year, in 2018, over 1.8 million were placed, and that included the graves of our Fallen WWII Soldiers at the Normandy American Cemetery in France. That was the first time in the history of the ‘Wreaths Across America’ that the project made it to the European shores. This year we are fortunate enough to be able to expand the project to include the American Military Cemeteries in Luxembourg and Margraten (NL). Bro. Sean Kille is the local Tri-Border contact for the Wreaths Across America organization and is working to ensure that we have enough volunteers to put Wreaths upon the headstones of all 8,291 Fallen Soldiers in Margraten, and also along the ‘Walls of Remembrance,’ that names the soldiers lost who were never recovered. Volunteers to help place Wreaths are asked to be at the Margraten Cemetery no later than 1030 on the morning of Sunday, December 1. A short ceremony will take place at 1100 hours, during which time the families who have ‘adopted’ Fallen Soldiers there will be asked to come forward first so that they may place Wreaths upon the graves of their respective soldiers. After that, the group of volunteers will be free to lay Wreaths upon the remaining grave sites. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated in seeing this project through. Should anyone be willing and able, assistance will also be needed on the 4th of December, as ALL of the Wreaths will need to be recovered, re-boxed, and sent off to an incinerator for destruction. As the Wreaths are made of living Balsam Fir, a species of tree that is Non-Native to the EU, the EU and Dutch authorities are only allowing us to leave the Wreaths out for 72 hours. Since 4 December falls on a weekday, it is anticipated that far fewer volunteers will be able to attend and assist, and it’s for that reason that we will need all the help that we can get on the 4th.
