Wreath Across America Placed

December 21, 2022
The Wreaths Across America event was held in many communities all over the country including Canton and St. Patrick, Mo. A group of volunteers helped to lay the wreaths on the graves of veterans at Forest Grove Cemetery. Pictured are: (l-r) John and Brenda Friedhoff, Mike and Charlotte Sommers, Brad Davis, David Blickhan, Carol Ragar, Corey Moon, Cindy McCutchan , Lois Constantz and Losi McCutchan The Wreaths Across America event was held in many communities all over the country including Canton and St. Patrick, Mo. A group of volunteers helped to lay the wreaths on the graves of veterans at Forest Grove Cemetery. Pictured are: (l-r) John and Brenda Friedhoff, Mike and Charlotte Sommers, Brad Davis, David Blickhan, Carol Ragar, Corey Moon, Cindy McCutchan , Lois Constantz and Losi McCutchan

St. Patrick, Mo., on December 17.

Brad Davis spoke to those attending and thanked the many people including that helped make the event a success, including Lois Constantz, who was instrumental in many aspects of the day and the board of directors of Forest Grove, Jerry Davis, Clark Todd and Terry Fretwell. The St. Patrick WAA sponsored 96 wreath donations.

The ceremony commemorating and honoring the 532 veterans buried in the Forest Grove Cemetery. This year the focus was on the 65 Civil War veterans at Forest Grove. Brad Davis said, “ We come together at this location and at this hour with over 3500 memorial sites and two million volunteers scattered across the United States and around the world to honor and celebrate over two millions deceased veterans. Our Association for the past five years has taken an active part in participating in this WAA program and we thank everyone for volunteering to be a part of this ceremony.

Davis then directed the attention to the eight flagpoles in place at the cemetery and the eight wreaths placed at each one that serve as a tribute to the following branches of the military, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and POW/MIA. Davis said, “Our many veterans throughout the ages have given so much for the freedoms and privileges that each one of us enjoy today and when they were called to action to preserve the liberties that our constitution provides for, they were ready to lay down their lives to defend it. Let us go forward in honoring their memory today with these balsam wreaths that symbolize our gratitude