The graves of 950 veterans at Woodlawn National Cemetery will have to wait a week longer for a special remembrance.
The first communitywide Wreaths Across America ceremony there went on as planned Saturday morning, but without the 950 wreaths because of a missed stop by the delivery company.
While a large crowd rivaling or exceeding Memorial Day audiences bundled up for low-30s temperatures, the wreaths, the centerpieces for the event, were aboard a truck in Indiana.
The event, observed nationwide at Arlington National Cemetery and more than 900 other places, features family, friends and volunteers placing balsam fir wreaths on the graves of veterans.
“They are en route so we are planning on having the wreath placement around the cemetery and on designated graves around 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20. We would ask people to please join us (then),” Matthew Sharpe, the emcee from local organizer Cameron Manufacturing & Design in Horseheads, told the crowd.
Saturday’s 30-minute ceremony, set amidst an avenue of flags and 8,600 snow-laden graves, featured remarks by Sharpe and Elmira Mayor Sue Skidmore. It included the presentation of seven wreaths purchased locally when the others failed to show for each military branch and posting and retirement of colors by honor guards from Chemung County and the Vietnam Veterans of America Post No. 803 in Elmira.
“I think it was well-received. People understood the reverence of the ceremony. Hopefully, they will be equally excited when the wreaths come in,” said Chris Goll, chief executive officer of Cameron, which spearheaded the effort but wants it to evolve into a communitywide endeavor.
“I hope that a lot of you will return next week, since that is when we will need you the most,” Skidmore said to the crowd. “After all, the people laying here in this cemetery took care of us. It’s time for us to return a favor.”
“We have Memorial Day. We have Veterans Day,” Skidmore said. “Let’s not forget them during the holidays when their families are missing them the most.”
Other local officials included Elmira Heights Mayor Margaret Smith and Horseheads Town Supervisor Mike Edwards.
Skidmore said her father, uncle, brother and son all served in the military. “We all have a connection,” she said.
The event, launched in 1992 at Arlington, is run by a nonprofit organization whose website takes orders and arranges delivery of $15 wreaths that can be placed at Arlington or designated for participating sites, such as Woodlawn. The national group anticipated 725,000 wreaths being placed Saturday.
Many in the crowd had come to personally place wreaths on the graves of loved ones. Among them was Marty Strong of Elmira.
“I think it is a great idea,” Strong said of the event, done by veterans groups in Elmira in the past but on a much smaller scale. “I ordered two (wreaths), one for my brother who was a Vietnam vet and one for my father, who was a World War II vet.”
Barbara Share of Elmira was typical of many who turned out on the cold, but snow-free morning.
“My mother is here. My uncle is here (Korean War). My father is a World War II vet. My husband is a vet of Afghanistan. They fought for our freedom,” she said.
Kacie Vasicek of Horseheads was there with her husband, Brian, and son, Canden, 2 .
“My cousin is buried here. My grandfather in on the wall (here). My father is a veteran. We wanted to honor veterans we love,” Vasicek said.
Two veteran Army reservists were among those in uniform. Master Sgt. Mike DiPetta of Erin, who has 29 years of service, was there as a spectator. Sgt. 1st Class Connie Penner of Roseville, Pa., who has 33 years of military service, presented the ceremonial wreath for those who were prisoners of war or missing in action.
Penner said she never knows what to say to people who thank her for her service, but she knows why she does it: “I do it for my son, and to make everyone free.”
Sharpe said Wreaths Across America told him Friday morning that the wreaths destined for Cameron for the Elmira ceremony had been shipped. But when he called the trucking company later that day, he said he learned they were still aboard a truck in Cleveland.
“I said you missed a stop,” Sharpe told the trucking outfit. “We were going to send a Cameron truck to Cleveland to pick them up, but the truck had gone on to Indiana.”
He said Wreaths Across America had offered to credit the group for the wreaths for use next year, or deliver them in time for the Dec. 20 ceremony. He said he consulted with cemetery director Jasper Edwards and the honor guard, who both opted to hold the ceremony as planned on the designated day.
He drew applause from the crowd when he announced that orders, which stood at 800 earlier last week, had grown to 950, and he said they already have pledges for 350 wreaths for next year’s ceremony. He said he expects the Wreaths Across America website to begin accepting orders in mid-January for next year’s ceremonies.
“Congratulations. Thank you all,” he told the audience.
He also related some email exchanges he had Saturday morning with former area resident Gloria VanGalder, who now lives in Florida.
“She checked her cemetery down there, They didn’t get their wreaths either,” Sharpe said.
Her husband, the late Robert R. VanGalder, an Air Force technical sergeant who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, died in 2002 at age 69.
“Her husband is buried here (Woodlawn) and next Saturday is his birthday. Things happen,” Sharpe said.
