HONORING THE FALLEN
MIDDLETOWN >> Middletown Future Farmers of America president Brooklyn Redford, 17, chose for her senior year project to honor deceased veterans with the Wreaths Across America program at Middletown Cemetery, December 19, at 9 a.m.
“Blake Schuster, last year did Wreaths Across America for his senior project,” Redford said. “I thought it was a super cool event and I wanted to help keep it going for years to come.”
“This program,” Redford said, “is to honor the fallen soldiers in my community with a wreath on each veteran’s gravestone during the Christmas holiday. I have set a personal goal to get 250 wreaths sponsored to cover all of the fallen soldiers at the Middletown Cemetery.”
Redford’s two uncles, who are serving in the Air Force as doctors, both sponsored wreaths to get her
started. Currently she has 107 wreaths sponsored.
Wreaths for Middletown Cemetery, Redford said, “are driven all the way from Maine. They are driven by a veteran and his wife with a painted truck that says Wreaths Across America.”
According to https:// www.wreathsacrossamerica.org, “Last year, grateful Americans sponsored over 2.2 million fresh balsam wreaths, with a single red bow, in a gesture of honor and respect for our veterans. Those wreaths needed to be picked up in Downeast, Maine, and transported to Arlington National Cemetery and over 2,200 other participating locations for National Wreaths Across America Day. Many drivers are veterans themselves and have repeated time and time again, a load of veterans’ wreaths is the most precious cargo they haul in their careers.”
In 2019, more than two million volunteers partici
pated at 2,158 locations nationwide, with 38,500 volunteers laying wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery. More than a third of the volunteers across the country were children. Approximately 600 truckloads of wreaths were delivered across the country by hundreds of volunteer profes
sional truck drivers using donated equipment and fuel from approximately 250 carriers.
Toni Funderburg, Coordinator of WAA in Lake County stated that each year, a new theme is chosen to help supporters focus their messaging and
outreach in their own communities. This year’s theme is “Be an American worth fighting for”, inspired by Staff Sgt. Daniel Strong and his keynote address during the 2018 escort to Arlington at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School located in Fitchburg, Mass.
As an infantryman in the Marine Corps, he lost 18 Marines during his service, three were his friends when he was a Lance Corporal, six as their Squad Leader, and the remaining nine as their Platoon Sergeant. Funderburg noted that Strong’s raw emotion was felt by all on that cold December day, as he spoke about his strong conviction to teach his JROTC students to exemplify, on a daily basis, the Wreaths Across America mission. “Be an American worth the sacrifice. In your daily operations, and in how you deal with one another and how you live your life. Those young men and women who are in Arlington National Cemetery and other cemeteries, they earned the right for you to be an American worth fighting for.”
Local efforts
Funderburg added that this will be the 14th year that Lake County has participated in the Wreaths Across America program. The first year, seven ceremonial wreaths were placed for the seven divisions of the military during a WAA Ceremony at the Hartley Cemetery. Since that first year ceremonies have grown in Lake County starting at Hartley, to Kelseyville, Upper Lake, Lower Lake, St. Mary’s and Middletown cemeteries.
Schuster (also known as Junior), now a freshman at Shasta Junior College, chose WAA for his senior project last year. He said, “After I witnessed the Wreaths Across America in Lower Lake in 2018, I learned that Middletown and Cobb were the only two cemeteries in Lake County that weren’t represented for the Wreaths Across America. So, I decided to bring it to my hometown of Middletown, hoping that one day Cobb will also get brought in and the whole county would be able to participate.”
Schuster’s grandfather, Claude Schuster Specialist 4th class, Army Vietnam was at the WAA event that young Schuster put together for his senior project in 2019. He said that his grandfather was very moved and wa s even brought to tears. “He was very happy that his friends were being honored. He said the whole ceremony made him feel very happy that everyone showed up to
commemorate the passedaway and still-living veterans. He was touched.”
“The return of veterans from Vietnam,” Schuster’s grandson added, “was very controversial.”
The cemetery consists of approximately nine acres, the first three which was donated by William Good, the town’s blacksmith. The cemetery’s history sheet
(dated April 14, 1998) tells that there are 15 Civil War veterans interred there, including a Confederate soldier John Reineke, a relative by marriage of William Good, plus John Good, Jr. from the Spanish American War.
Redford did a preliminary search of the cemetery and found graves of veterans from the Civil War,
World War I, World War II and Korean wars. While dusting off leaves and dirt, Redford said, “I’m hoping to get a group of students together to help me clean all the graves at the cemetery and place flags on the ones that are veterans.” She plans to do this the week prior to the event.
Why does WAA do what it does?
According to information provided by Funderburg, “Veterans are honored on Veterans Day in the fall and Memorial Day in the spring. But our service men and women sacrifice their time and safety every single day of the year, to preserve our freedoms.” She added that at many homes, there is an empty seat for one who is serving, or one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. “WAA honors our veterans every day.”
“When we come together to place wreaths, there are people from the left and the right, it doesn’t matter your faith or your politics. We are there as Americans” stated Karen Worcester, the executive director of WAA. “Our mission welcomes anyone to join us in remembering those who gave their lives for our freedom, including our freedom to be different from one another. And now, more than ever, we want to help people find common ground with one another by supporting our military and their families.”
“We are not here to ‘decorate graves,’” said Worcester, “We are here to remember not their deaths, but their lives. Wreaths Across America brings together people from all walks of life, uniting them in the common mission to remember the fallen, honor those that serve, and teach the next generation about the true cost of freedom.”
Boy Scout Troop 42 in Lakeport, Girl Scouts and Big Valley 4-H in Kelseyville, the Lake County 4-H Group in Lower Lake and FFA in Upper Lake and Middletown will be accepting donations for wreaths until November 27. Individual sponsorships cost $15 for one wreath and the family option costs $60 for four wreaths, small businesses can fund 10 wreaths for $150 and corporations can sponsor 100 or more wreaths for $1,500 or any amount can be sponsored for $15 per wreath.
Funderburg said that sponsorship forms can be picked up at Lakeport Tire and Auto Service, 1901 S. Main St. Lakeport or you can call 263-5422 and they will fax or email you a sponsorship form.
To help Redford with her senior project by sponsoring a wreath go to: https:// www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/162232 This site will lead directly to Middletown Cemetery.