This Saturday Mountain Home National Cemetery will host a special wreath-laying ceremony to honor and remember our nation’s veterans.
The ceremony is one of many that will be held this weekend as part of the Wreaths Across Program.
The Civil Air Patrol, veterans service organizations and citizens are coordinating the event to honor veterans of each branch of the military, the Merchant Marines as well as Prisoners of War and those still Missing in Action.
This marks the seventh year a wreath-laying ceremony will be held at Mountain Home, said Jeny Walker, director of the Mountain Home National Cemetery.
As part of the program, wreaths are sold in advance and then on the day of the ceremony they are placed on the graves of veterans.
“We lay them in a pattern according to how many we have to make it visually pleasing,” Walker said.
When people purchase a wreath they can either dedicate it to be placed on specific grave or they can ask that it be placed on any grave, Walker said.
Each year, the program has grown to see even more wreaths laid in honor of the veterans laid to rest in Mountain Home.
“We have doubled the amount of wreaths we sold this year,” Walker said, adding about 3,300 will be placed in the cemetery this year. “Many thanks to the community for honoring our veterans this way.”
While she has attended wreath-laying ceremonies before, this year will be Walker’s first ceremony at Mountain Home, as she was named director of the cemetery within the past year. Since taking the post at Mountain Home, Walker said she has been humbled by the way the local community honors its veterans.
Beginning on Friday evening and continuing Saturday morning, Walker said the wreaths dedicated to the graves of specific veteran will be placed. Then, on Saturday at 11 a.m., the official event will get underway with the placing of the non-dedicated wreaths. A brief ceremony will be held at noon to honor all veterans of all branches of service as well as Prisoners of War and those still Missing in Action.
“It is short and sweet, but very significant,” Walker said.
The ceremony will be held at the Mountain Home National Cemetery on the campus of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Johnson City. The event is open to the public.