CULLMAN, Ala. – Local scout troops, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) chapter, representatives from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and community members gathered on Saturday, Dec. 17, at Cullman City Cemetery to honor veterans who died while in service or otherwise. The event was part of the annual Wreaths Across America remembrance.
The Dripping Springs DAR chapter organized the morning’s program, which included a speech by Athelia Gibbs of Dripping Springs DAR, the presentation of the flag by local Boy Scouts and the laying of the wreaths of each branch of the United Stated military by members of Cullman’s VWF Post 2214. Gibbs chose the gravesite of Col. John G. Cullmann as the location for the ceremonial wreaths to be placed.
“We are proud to be Americans who live in a free society made of many people of many walks of life,” Gibbs said. “The freedoms that we enjoy today do not come without a price. Lying here before us and in cemeteries across the nation are men and women who gave their lives so that we can live in freedom and without fear.”
Members from the Boy Scouts of America Cullman Troop 219 and Girl Scout Troop 325 from Hartselle volunteered their time on the blustery Saturday morning to comb through the cemetery and identify veterans’ gravesites. Once found, the veteran’s name was said aloud, and a live wreath was placed over his or her footstone.
The Cullman Wal-Mart Distribution Center participated in its sixth year by transporting wreaths across the nation, joining thousands of other centers across the country.
National Wreaths Across America Day had participants in cemeteries in all 50 states including Arlington National Cemetery where the movement stared in 1992 when Morrill Worcester, founder of Worcester Wreath Company, donated his 5,000 wreath surplus to honor soldiers in Arlington. Using volunteers, he sent the wreaths from the company’s headquarters in Maine for the next 13 years.
Worcester Wreath Company began supplying wreaths across the country and the Wreaths Across America nonprofit was founded in 2007.
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