LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Saturday, Dec. 17, ceremonies across Lake County will honor veterans during the holiday season as part of the annual Wreaths Across America Day commemoration.
On this brisk December morning the community is invited help to show the veterans and families of veterans that attend that they will not be forgotten.
Youth organizations and veteran organizations have volunteered to conduct the Wreaths Across America Ceremony this year at Hartley Cemetery, Kelseyville Cemetery, Lower Lake Cemetery, Upper Lake Cemetery and St. Mary’s Cemetery on Saturday starting promptly at 9 a.m.
Seven ceremonial wreaths will be placed to remember all soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who served, honor their sacrifices and teach younger generations about the high cost of our freedoms.
Wreaths Across America pursues its mission with nationwide wreath-laying events amid the holiday season, and year-round educational outreach inviting all Americans to appreciate our freedoms and the cost at which they are delivered.
Specially designated wreaths for the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and POW/MIA will be placed on memorials during a ceremony that will be coordinated simultaneously at more than 1,100 participating locations all across the country and overseas.
In 2015, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers laid more than 901,000 memorial wreaths with help from 2,507 fundraising groups, corporate contributions, and donations of trucking, shipping and thousands of helping hands.
The wreaths for Hartley Cemetery will arrive by truck and trailer on Friday and will proceed down Main Street escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders.
The trucks are driven across country by veterans who volunteer each year to honor and remember fallen veterans.
Take an hour amid the hustle and bustle of this holiday season and bring your families to attend one of these heartfelt ceremonies that will be performed by youth organizations including Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Clear Lake High School Cheerleaders, 4-H, FFA, CLHS Band, Sheriff Explorers, St. Mary’s Confirmation Kids and K-Corps.
In addition, the Lake County Funeral Honors Team, Patriot Guard Riders and Honor Guard from the Travis Air Force Base will be attending at one of the locations.
Bundle up and show your support for what these veterans and their families have sacrificed. If you can’t make it don’t miss an opportunity to thank a veteran.
Organizers offer their thanks to all of those people, businesses and groups that have so generously sponsored wreaths this year and in the past to assure that veterans in Lake County are honored and remembered.