More than 2,000 veterans were honored in town as Marblehead celebrated its second annual Wreaths Across America Day, which sets out to honor the lives of fallen heroes ahead of the holidays.
Founded in 2007, Wreaths Across America now holds thousands of wreath-laying ceremonies at cemeteries across the country. This year, Marblehead was able to lay wreaths on the graves of roughly 2,200 veterans, more than triple the number of last year’s inaugural ceremony.
The ceremony was held at Waterside Cemetery at noon, as family, friends, and veterans gathered around the newly restored Veterans Gazebo, which was unveiled last weekend by the Marblehead Rotary Club.
Marblehead’s Wreaths Across America was started last year by EMS Dispatcher Teresa Collins, who was grateful to the community for its support, specifically the local businesses in town who made a big difference with their donations.
“I know how hard this economy is for little mom and pop businesses here in town, and for them to donate and get behind our mission and support, it was really heartwarming,” Collins said.
In addition to the wreaths at Waterside, there were 24 ceremonial wreaths included, five of which were placed to represent the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines.
The rest were placed throughout town at various military monuments and memorials, including at Creesy Street Cemetery, on Gen. John Glover’s tomb, and at the Lost at Sea Memorial at Old Burial Hill.
Last week, dozens of volunteers, including Fire Chief Jason Gilliland and a number of other first responders, got to Waterside before dawn to unload and prepare the wreaths ahead of the big day.
After the ceremony, Marblehead’s VFW Post held a celebration, which included food and live music, for the dozens of volunteers and donors who made the wreath-laying possible.
To make the ceremony possible, a number of fundraising events were held at the VFW Post and the Beacon to raise enough money to sponsor the wreaths.
The mission of Wreaths Across America is to “remember, honor, teach.” For Collins, she feels it is especially important to continue to teach the importance and value of freedom, which she said each and every veteran buried both in town and around the globe fought for.
“With the pandemic, so many of our freedoms were removed and so easily given away,” Collins said. “The third component of the mission is to teach the value of freedom. That’s something that I’m really excited to have brought — I think it’s just so important to appreciate the value of freedom.”
During the ceremony, Wreaths Across America was also officially recognized in town with a declaration.
Those looking to sponsor wreaths for next year’s ceremony can already do so. From now until Jan. 16, there will be a wreath match, where any wreath sponsored through a sponsorship group will be matched by Wreaths Across America. For more information on how to sponsor a wreath or donate, visit https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/ or the Marblehead Wreaths Across America Facebook Page.