War veterans remembered with Wreaths Across America

BENTON, Mo. -- Saturday was a day of remembrance across the United States honoring departed war veterans as part of Wreaths Across America.

Locally, American Legion Riders Chapter 369 of Benton, Missouri, has been doing their part to keep the tradition alive.

Verlon "Boo" Parker, co-coordinator of this year's Scott County Wreaths Across America program, said he's been a part of Wreaths Across America since 2007, when the program expanded from Bloomfield, Missouri, to Scott City.

"We started in Bloomfield in 2007 and there was just eight of us. There was only eight wreaths, and when you look at it now, you've got more wreaths then you know what to do with," Parker said.

The not-for-profit organization Wreaths Across America began in 1992, when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine, found himself with a surplus of wreaths near the end of the Christmas season.

Jim Austin, an Army veteran and American Legion Rider with chapter 369, rolls up an American flag after a wreath-laying ceremony Saturday at St. Denis Cemetery in Benton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

According to the official Wreaths Across America website, wreathsacrossamerica.org, Worcester recalled his trip as a boy to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., and decided to use his wreaths to honor the country's veterans.

Since then the mission of Wreaths Across America has grown. In 2005, Worcester's good deed went viral across the Internet, and by 2010, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers have laid more than 220,000 memorial wreaths at 545 locations in the United States, their website said.

More than 50 people attended the second annual memorial Saturday at St. Denis Catholic Church Cemetery in Benton. The commemoration included guest speaker Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter and keynote speaker state Sen. Wayne Wallingford, as well as participation from local Boy Scouts and New Madrid's ROTC.

Seven ceremonial wreaths were used in the ceremony to represent the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POWs/MIAs.

In total, Parker thought American Legion Riders chapters 369 and 114 were laying 660 wreaths around the area.

"We've got 60 here [at St. Denis Cemetery]; we already did 13 on their graveyard, Lightner's [cemetery] and St. Josephs in Scott City. It's 354 we're going to do next week, and then we've got another graveyard we're going to put them on," he said.

Parker said this is the one time of year the wreaths are laid everywhere, across the nation. At 11 a.m. on the second Saturday in December, volunteers nationwide honor United States veterans.

"I'm a veteran myself, and to have a wreath on a grave for Christmas for veterans who've passed away -- it's the best thing anyone could do right now," he said. " ... I start crying too much if I start talking about it, but it's one of the best things there is."

smaue@semissourian.com

388-3644

Pertinent address:

St. Denis Catholic Church Cemetery, 135 N. Winchester St., Benton, Missouri