Honoring the fallen this holiday season
Remember.
Honor.
Teach.
Those are the three things volunteers with Wreaths Across America hope to do on Dec. 15.
Across the nation, volunteers will place wreaths on headstones in veterans’ cemeteries. The three participating veterans’ cemeteries in Knoxville are Knoxville’s National Cemetery on Tyson Street, the East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery on Lyon’s View Pike and the East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery on Gov. John Sevier Highway.
Last year, only about a third of the headstones received a wreath.
Most Anderson County veterans that request to be buried in a veterans’ cemetery are buried in one of those three cemeteries, according to Wreaths Across America spokesperson Chris Albrecht.
The initiative began in 1992, when the Worcester Wreath Company sent excess Christmas wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery. It grew from there into what it is today.
This year, Oliver Springs/Coalfield resident Eddie Lindsey has the honor of delivering a truck full of wreaths from Wreaths Across America headquarters in Maine to Arlington National Cemetery.
“It’s been a dream of mine to go to Arlington and visit it,” he said. “This is really an honor.”
Lindsey is a Navy veteran and works for Big G Express, a trucking company based in Shelbyville, Tennessee. In order to qualify for the honor, two of the requirements were to be named Driver of the Year at least once and have driven a million miles.
He will be one of 79 trucks delivering the wreaths.
The Capt. Bill Robinson Chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America in Knoxville has taken the leadership role in raising the funds to have a wreath on each of the nearly 17,000 headstones in Knoxville. “Our chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America is creating awareness and driving people to donate,” Albrecht said.
This program hits close to home for Albrecht. He is a Navy veteran, having served in Vietnam from 1968-1972.
To make a donation through Nov. 30, visit vva1078.org and choose which cemetery you would like to send your wreath to. It costs $15 to sponsor one wreath. You can also send a check to:
VVA 1078
P.O. Box 50054
Knoxville, TN 37950
Make the check out to VVA 1078.