Skywatch Friday: Honoring our heroes
Last week our church sent out an email asking for help laying wreaths for the Wreaths Across America event that took place on December 18th.
The Pikes Peak National Cemetery is located just down the road from us on the high plains of Colorado.
This is a new national cemetery that only opened in 2018. It is 374 acres that will eventually provide the final resting place for 95,000 eligible veterans and their spouses over the next 100 years. As you can see from the above picture, there aren't a lot of plots in use yet.
The community turnout was fabulous even though it was a balmy 22 degrees. There was probably one volunteer for every two or three graves. We picked up our wreaths and located an empty row.
The veteran's name is engraved on the front of the stone along with his or her rank and places they served in combat. (Service member and spouse are buried together, one on top of the other whether is ashes or caskets.) What I thought was really cool was that if the spouse is also buried there their names are engraved on the back of the stone. We were instructed to place a wreath on both sides of the stone if there was a spouse.
As a former military spouse I can tell you that the contribution the spouse makes to the service member is significant. I think it's wonderful that the spouse is honored with a wreath also.
Private citizens sponsor a wreath for $15 and then the wreaths are trucked to cemeteries across America and on a specific day the wreaths are laid on the graves at all the cemeteries.
Here's a link to Wreaths Across America if you want to sponsor a wreath or volunteer for next year's event. It is truly a heartwarming experience.
A beautiful way to honor America's heroes!
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