Holiday remembrance of those who gave all
Farragut’s Wreaths Across America count was 278 honored Dec. 14: Williams
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From left, Christen Bonn; son, Tucker Bonn, 11, a member of Boy Scout Pack 242; Matthew Bonn; daughter, Paisley, 10; and grandmother, Bonnie Swain, were among 100 who laid wreaths on veterans’ graves at Pleasant Forest Cemetery in Farragut Saturday, Dec. 14. - Tammy Cheek
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Air National Guard Lt Col. Travis Hurst, keynote speaker Dec. 14. - Tammy Cheek
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Tiffany Doyle and daughter, Harper Palmer, 7, were ready to lay a wreath on the grave of veteran William Konrad Buhler in Pleasant Forest Cemetery Saturday, Dec. 14. - Tammy Cheek
About 100 volunteers, from veterans to families and Scouts, arrived at Pleasant Forest Cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of veterans as part of this year’s national Wreaths Across America program Saturday morning, Dec. 14.
“We’re here to remember not their deaths, but their lives,” said Farragut operations manager Chris Sheffield, a retired Air Force officer. “Each wreath is a gift of our appreciation from a grateful America.”
Participants were asked to step up to the grave, place the wreath, say aloud the name of the veteran and thank him for his service.
Dave Stinton, Pleasant Forest Cemetery caretaker, along with cemetery board members provided cards, each with information about a veteran and where his grave is located in the cemetery, to those laying wreaths.
Town Mayor Ron Williams said there were 278 wreaths being placed on veterans’ graves in Farragut. Along with Pleasant Forest, wreaths also were laid on veterans’ graves at Virtue Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery along Evans Road and Grigsby Chapel Cemetery.
Among those laying wreaths were Williams, District 5 Knox County Commissioner Angela Russell, District 5 Knox County Board of Education rep Lauren Morgan and Brad Hair, representing Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs’ Office.
After University of Tennessee’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps members presented the Colors, U.S. Navy veteran Pastor Patrick Pence presented the invocation.
“Dear Father, we come here today on this morning and we give thanks. We thank You for those we honor here today who have served this country and some who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.
“We thank You for their dedication. We thank You for their time,” he prayed. “We thank You for the sacrifice of their families.
“Their sacrifice really wouldn’t be much if there weren’t those who remember and honor their sacrifice,” Pence added. “So, I thank You for those who are gathered here today to do that: to come out on a chilly morning to lay wreaths across old stones with names faded away, but their memories and their sacrifice will not be faded away in our hearts.
“If it wasn’t for the people here today, these stones would just remain silent.”
Wreaths Across America started in 1992 with the Morrill Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, said keynote speaker Lt. Col. Travis Hurst, executive officer of Air National Guard’s 134th Air Refueling Wing at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base.
The company’s owner “had 5,000 extra wreaths, and he didn’t know what to do with them, didn’t want to throw them away, so he donated them,” Hurst said. “They went to Arlington National Cemetery and they decorated all those graves with those wreaths.
“Then around 2006, there was a photo taken at Arlington with the snow on the wreaths, and that’s when the program ballooned,” he added. “Today, there will be over 19,000 wreaths decorated here and around Knox County by a team of people.
“They started on Thursday. The longest one is a hike of about 8 miles each way into the Smokies, where they will take a wreath and honor a World War II vet.”
He said this year at the 134th, there were 250 who were deployed for WAA.
