Wreaths Across America to Honor Veterans

Wreaths Across America will place 1,400 holiday wreaths on the gravesites of veterans at New Britain’s Fairview Cemetery.

Disabled American Veterans, Hardware City Chapter 8, is managing the event, organizers say, “in cooperation with the City of New Britain and with the assistance of a large Planning Committee of volunteers from Greater New Britain’s business, non-profit and veterans service organization communities.”

The event is to be on Saturday, December 14, 2019. It will begin with the placement of wreaths, starting at 8:00am. The formal ceremony will be held at 12:00pm with dignitaries, local military color guards and the NBHS Band and Madrigal singers.

Event organizers say that,

Leading the Pledge of Allegiance will be 9-year-old Michael Ahern of Plainville, who gained notice this year as the founder of Scoops for Troops, a major fundraising effort to send eight families of service-injured veterans to the Travis Mills Foundation Retreat in Maine. The invocation will be offered by V. Rev. David Koles, Rector, Holy Trinity Orthodox Church.

Event organizers say that the morning placement of wreaths will be by, “committee volunteers and others already recruited to assist will manage the necessary placements; however, those interested in offering to help and to fill any unanticipated volunteer needs may e-mail Dennis Taricani at [email protected] to be placed on an on-call list.”

The 2019 ceremonies will mark the first time that the Wreaths Across America wreath placement has occurred in New Britain since 2014. “That year,” event organizers say, “DAV Hardware City Chapter 8 organized a similar successful effort, but the project was not renewed the following year.”

After a yearlong planning and fundraising effort, event organizers say that the event is now planned to occur annually, saying that, “the Planning Committee has successfully reached its $25,000 goal and the project is well-positioned to continue in 2020 and beyond.”

Event organizers say that Wreaths Across America is a, “nationally renowned movement to honor service and sacrifice which last year placed holiday wreaths on nearly two million veteran gravesites at more than 1,600 locations throughout the country.”

Fairview Cemetery is located at 120 Smalley Street.