On Saturday December 16, the Murray County OHCE Members joined with the American Legion Post 148 to honor veterans with a Wreaths Across America at Oaklawn Cemetery in Sulphur. The mission of the event is to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and to teach the next generation the value of freedom. Murray County OSD Extension Coordinator Debbie Sharp served as Master of Ceremonies for the event which opened with the raising of the flags by the Chickasaw Honor Guard.
Sharp then told those in attendance the ceremony is tied to the Wreaths Across America program where today evergreen wreaths are being placed in Arlington cemetery, all national cemeteries, as well as 3,700 cemeteries scattered across every state in the union. By the end of the day, over 2.7 million wreaths were placed on the resting places of American Veterans.
Following a brief moment of silence to remember the fallen, prisoners of war, those missing in action and honor those who have served and are serving this great nation’s armed services, Sharp explained the symbolism of the evergreen wreath.
Why evergreen wreaths? The circle of a wreath symbolizes the continuing circle of life and death. The symbolism of wreaths has been used at funerals since ancient Greece to represent the circle of eternal life and the wreath has also been used in history to honor soldiers and to honor victories.
Sharp said, “We are standing in a place that finds, resting peacefully upon this hallowed ground, over 650 men and women who gave you and me the opportunity to freely stand here today. Standing among us, living among us and scattered across every continent are those we do not know or see but we know they are there, our heroes serving to continue giving us the freedom we so often take for granted. “
Sharp also read a quote by Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United State. Reagan said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States, where men were free”.
Prior to the wreath presentation, Dave Roberson played the “Battle Hymn of Republic” on the harmonica.
The wreath’s were then displayed by the following local veterans and the branch of serve they represented: Jim West, US Army; Shawn Sharber, US Air Fouce; Glen Vandever, US Coast Guard; Valerie Spiegle, US Marines; Thomas Thompson, US Navy, Mark Estlack US Space Force; and Denny Wade in honor of the 93,129 United States servicemen from all branches of the service whose last known status was either Prisoners of War or Missing in action.
The program concluded with the plays of TAPS and a gun salute by the honor guard.
Sharp said it the desire of the groups to begin raising funds to actually place wreaths on the graves of each Veteran in the years to come. If you would like to be part of this effort please speak to either organization.
