Wreaths Across America stops in Imperial to honor veterans
IMPERIAL – Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Desert Palm Chapter hosted Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit (WAA) at Imperial County Airport on Saturday, March 4, from 10 a.m. to 3p.m..
The nationally traveling exhibit featured information about Wreaths Across America, how it began, a video presentation, and why they do what they do. Margaret Strahm, the Regent of DAR, said she was
“so proud and happy to be allowed to host Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit and be allowed to participate in this noble event.”
The mission of the group is to “Remember, Honor, Teach.”
Wreaths Across America Ambassador DeLane Kellogg, of Kansas, and Strahm, of the Imperial Valley, talked more indepth about the organization. They said Murriel Worcester was a 12 year-old paperboy for the Bangor Daily News when he won a trip to Washington D.C., and during that trip, he saw a bare Arlington National Cemetery that stuck with him throughout his life. He eventually founded the Worcester Wreath Company in Maine.
In 1992, Worcester Wreaths had a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. Remembering his boyhood experience at Arlington, Murriel Worcester realized he had an opportunity to honor the country’s veterans with his wreaths, they said. With the aid of
Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, arrangements were made for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery that had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year. In 2007, the Worcester family, along with civic group leaders, VSO leaders, formed Wreaths Across America, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to continue and expand Worchester’s efforts, and support other groups around the country who wanted to do the same.
Kellogg said people tend to not truly realize the importance of a veteran’s sacrifice, and how the mobile unit helps bring that education to others.
“My father received his first wreath in 2017. I had no idea what it was about,” Kellogg said. “As soon as we found out, we started running loads for [WAA].”
Kellogg said he’s thankful somebody makes sure his father receives a wreath and wants to make sure someone else gets one as well.
Strahm put a wreath on her father’s tombstone in Evergreen Cemetery in El Centro around Christmastime, and she said “that was the only wreath in there.” Strahm said it was heartbreaking and appreciates that WAA makes sure all veteran tombstones receive a wreath.
She also said the DAR’s sponsorship of WAA is “right up their alley” because it shares a lot of their values, like love of country and respect for veterans.
Regarding WAA’s mission, several other individuals and organizations stepped up to help over the years. James Prout, the owner of a local trucking company Blue Bird Ranch, Inc., provided wreath transportation to Virginia. Volunteers from the local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars Posts gathered, along with community members, to decorate each wreath with traditional red, hand-tied bows.
Members of the Maine
State Society of Washington, D.C., helped to organize the wreath-laying, which included a special ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“Without these deaths, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” Strahm said.