Media Resources

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Introduction To Wreaths Across America:

Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond. You can read the full history of the organization here - feel free to use! Here’s a video version that will save you the reading:

National Wreaths Across America Day is a free, non-political event, that honors and remembers our nation's veterans who are laid to rest in 3,100+ different locations nationwide. This year, National Wreaths Across America Day will take place on Saturday, December 17, 2022.

The Reinterment of Medal of Honor Recipient SGT Robert McPhelan

Robert was born in 1837 in Laois, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States with his wife Mary and joined the Army. He received his Medal of Honor for Gallantry in action for his time serving with Col Nelson Miles October 1876 through Jan 1877. He was presented the honor on July 18, 1877 from General William T. Sherman. SGT Robert McPhelan was laid to rest in 1884 in Potters Field.

UPDATE: He was respectfully relocated to Leavenworth National Cemetery and received full military honors thanks to the hard work of WAA volunteer Michelle Cebe in Kansas.

An Environmental Story: Wreath Retirement & Fish

WAA volunteers like Cliff Vangilder act as ambassadors for the mission to remember, honor, and teach. They are also environmentally minded as they work to find solutions for logistical challenges associated with wreath laying on Wreaths Across America Day.

One of those challenges is: what to do with the wreaths after honoring our veterans? For the last two years, retired veterans' wreaths have been collected and turned into fish habitat in Tygart Lake, VA providing shelter from predators increasing their chances of maturing and spawning. It helps survival lifespan and reproduction rates necessary for a healthy fishery.

Military Women's Memorial Grove Dedication

On September 27, 2021, Wreaths Across America, in partnership with the Military Women’s Memorial Foundation, dedicated a section of the organization’s balsam Tip-lands in Columbia Falls, Maine, to America’s military women, past and present, in honor and memory of all women who have served our nation.

The ceremony included an opening prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, an unveiling of the Grove plaque, remarks by leadership of both organizations and the reading of the names of veterans who will be honored through the Remembrance Tree Program in the new Grove.

Grove Dedication to Daughters of the American Revolution

As part of its Veterans Remembrance Tree Program, WAA dedicated a Grove to Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) on the tip lands in Maine. The balsam fir trees in this Grove will now hold the replica dog tags of thousands of veterans, all Revolutionary War-era ancestors of DAR members nationwide.

DAR is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children, and was founded in 1890.