#Middlebury #Watertown #Veterans #WreathsAcrossAmerica #DAR
Phyllis Schaar, a former member of the U.S. Air Force, places a ceremonial wreath in honor of all Air Force Veterans during a previous Wreaths Across America ceremony. This year’s ceremony will be Saturday, Dec. 16. (Submitted photo)
Saturday, Dec. 16, at noon at the Old Burying Ground entrance on Depot Street in Watertown, the Trumbull-Porter Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and the Waterbury Veterans Memorial Committee will hold a Wreaths Across America ceremony honoring veterans, including the 81 known to be buried in the Old Burying Ground in Watertown. Participants from Watertown, the VFW Post 7330 in Oakville and their Ladies Auxiliary, and the Charles Merriman Society, Children of the American Revolution (C.A.R.), members of the Young Marines and students from the Bethlehem Elementary School will attend, and the public is encouraged to join them.
Last year’s ceremony was postponed for a day due to storm conditions throughout the Northeast. The ceremony was held the next day with the participants gathered in blustery, frigid conditions to help honor all veterans, especially those buried in this cemetery.
Ceremonial wreaths were placed in honor of the Gold Star Mothers; the U.S. Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines; and the more than 93,000 servicemen and women from all branches whose last known status was either Prisoner of War or Missing in Action. After this year’s formal ceremony, participants will place wreaths on the 81 veterans’ graves in the Old Burying Ground.
Wreaths Across America (WAA) is a national nonprofit organization with more than 1,200 participating locations and more than 150,000 volunteers around the country. WAA pursues its mission with nationwide wreath-laying events during the holiday season and year-round educational outreach inviting all Americans to appreciate our freedoms and the cost at which they are delivered.
The Sarah Whitman Trumbull Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, was organized in 1904. One of the chapter’s first duties was to help with the maintenance of this cemetery as a chapter project with the help of members of the Melicent Porter Chapter in Waterbury, which was organized in 1893. The two chapters merged in 1998 to form the present Trumbull-Porter Chapter.
For information about D.A.R. membership, contact Katie Gabrielson at katieg.trumbullporterdar@gmail.com or 203-729-3349, or Freda Carreiro at freda.tpdar@gmail.com or 860-274- 6219; for membership in C.A.R. contact Lynn or Liza Marshall at 860-274-7472.
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