'It reminds us of how much they have done'

WARWICK — Town of Warwick Supervisor Michael Sweeton, VFW Chaplain Don Grenier and a small group of representatives from the Warwick Valley Gardeners, VFW Post 4662 and American Legion Post 214 assembled at Warwick's Veterans Memorial Park on a cold and gray Saturday afternoon, Dec. 16, to lay a wreath at the Veterans Monument.
Organizers Jackie Lawlor, a member of the Warwick Valley Gardeners, and her husband, Joseph, a member of American Legion Post 214, conducted the brief ceremony held in conjunction with "Wreaths Across America," a tradition of laying holiday wreaths on veterans' graves to honor their service and their memories.
More than 1,200 cemeteries across the nation participated in the event with volunteers laying approximately 700,000 wreaths.
Approximately 3,000 wreaths were laid by 200 volunteers during the ceremony at Orange County's Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
The tradition of laying wreaths to honor veterans began in 1992, when Morrill Worcester, the owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, had extra wreaths at the close of the Holiday season.
He remembered a boyhood trip to Arlington National Cemetery and decided to donate 5,000 wreaths to be placed on the headstones.
By 2014, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers laid more than 700,000 memorial wreaths at 1,000 locations in the United States and beyond, including ceremonies at the Pearl Harbor Memorial, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and the sites of the September 11 tragedies.
The annual laying of a wreath in Veterans Memorial Park, sponsored by the Warwick Valley Gardeners and local veterans organizations, pays tribute to our local veterans.
" I think it's important," Sweeton said, "that we take the time in this holiday season to place this wreath to commemorate the sacrifices of the men and women who have served our nation. It reminds us of how much they have done to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today."
- Roger Gavan