People in Hampton Roads took action to honor fallen veterans Saturday as part of “Wreaths Across America” day.
In Suffolk, volunteers carefully placed wreaths on thousands of veterans’ graves at the Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery.
The annual wreath laying event has been held there since 2008.
The Horton Wreath Society uses donations from the community to buy the evergreen wreaths.
Last year they weren’t sure if they would have enough money, so NewsChannel three stepped in and donated a thousand dollars.
That inspired a Marine veteran to go above and beyond – donating $5,000.
A wreath laying ceremony was also held Saturday afternoon in Hampton.
Volunteers gathered at the Hampton National Cemetery where they placed remembrance wreaths at the headstones of thousands of service members.
Among the volunteers were the Navy Wives Club of America and the youth group from Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Newport News.
“This was a project that the youth group that I work for started 10 years ago, and they found out this was missing in our community and they felt it was very important to start, so we started with 500 wreaths the first year and we’re up to 6,500,” said Harper Lewis, youth director at St. Andrew’s.
“The whole purpose is to remember the sacrifices that they’ve paid to ensure our freedom,” said local coordinator Maribel Beckwith, “for me personally, it’s a way of saying thank you because I am a September 11th survivor, and it’s my way to say thank you beacause if not for you, I probably would not be here today.”
There were not enough donations this year to place wreaths at all of the grave markers in Hampton.
To learn more about making donations for either of the wreath laying ceremonies, you can to their websites.
