Laying wreaths to remember
Large crowd attends Wreaths Across America ceremony
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Nathan Dunn and his father, Tim Dunn, lay a wreath at the grave of Army veteran Kenneth Smith Morrison in Pleasant Forest Cemetery following a Wreaths Across America ceremony at the cemetery Saturday morning, Dec. 13. - Tammy Cheek
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Knox County School Board member Lauren Morgan, far right, got ready to lay wreaths on veterans graves with her children, from left, Jack, Cooper June and Izzy during Wreaths Across America at Pleasant Forest Cemetery off Concord Road Saturday morning, Dec. 13. - Tammy Cheek
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The Squire family, from left, Daphne, 8; Emmett, 6; Chloe, 3; and parents Ryan and Shannon, placed a wreath at the grave of David Campbell during Wreaths Across America at Pleasant Forest Cemetery off Concord Road Saturday morning, Dec. 13. Carrie said she came because her dad and two uncles were veterans. Her dad served in Korea, one uncle in Vietnam and another in World War II. - Tammy Cheek
“There’s a saying, ‘A veteran dies twice,” Marilyn Childress, U.S. Navy veteran and Veterans Heritage Site Foundation president, told a crowd of about 200 people at Pleasant Forest Cemetery who attended a Wreaths Across America ceremony Saturday morning, Dec. 13.
“Once when they physically pass away, and once when no one ever thinks of them, says their name,” she added.
As a Navy veteran, “I don’t want these veterans to ever ever be forgotten,” Childress said. “So you all are keeping their memory alive today, and I want to thank you so much because it’s so dear to me.”
“We are here to honor those who have served in some capacity,” Pastor Patrick Pence said as he gave the invocation. “We are doing that by laying a simple wreath.”
This is the third year, a Wreaths Across America event has been held in Farragut. Volunteers laid wreaths at the graves of 286 veterans, not only Pleasant Forest but also Grigsby Chapel United Methodist, Virtue Church and Union Cumberland Presbyterian church.
“My wife and I do it every year,” said Christian Ayo, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and other places from 2001 to 2021. “Sometimes we bring our granddaughters.”
Laying a wreath and reading the veterans’ names “just means you remember them,” he said. “I mean, it’s a sacrifice to be in the military.”
He added his wife sacrificed, as well, as a military wife.
“We owe it to them to have a good life, a life worthy of sacrifice,” Dr. John Bartlett, FHS principal and a veteran of the U.S. Marines, said about the
veterans interred in the cemetery in his keynote address.
He read a letter from the late President Abraham Lincoln to the Massachusetts mother of five sons, “who died gloriously on the field of battle.”
“Here, we stand today, looking over a series of stones and monuments,” Bartlett said. “And, on each of these, many, many stories are etched in the single representation of a name, date and a dash.
“Today is another reminder that it’s the dash that counts,” he said. “Among these final resting places are names, like the second governor of
Tennessee and Revolutionary War veteran, Archibald Roane; David Campbell, Revolutionary War veteran and founder of Campbell Station; Corp. Clay Clayborne and Private Frits Clayborne, members of the 369th Infantry regiment in World War I’s Harlem
Hellfighters … as I stand her, right in back of me today … you’ll find a Revolutionary War veteran who served with George Washington at Valley Forge.”
Along that same path,
Bartlett said, there is a marine who served in Afghanistan.
In Farragut’s cemeteries, “you’ll see veterans who served in every American conflict … you’ll also see veterans who raised their right hand but never saw the field of battle but still sacrificed themselves for their country,” Bartlett said. “As you lay a wreath today, you’ll say the veteran’s name aloud. Saying a veteran’s name aloud during the wreath ceremony ensures they are never forgotten,” he said.
Reflecting, “the Veterans Heritage Site Association is so excited to see that this is our third year [holding Wreaths Across America in Farragut],” Childress said. “I started trying to get this accomplished four years ago, and with the help of Chris [Sheffield], the Town of Farragut and Dave Stinnett at Pleasant [Forest] Cemetery, who was really instrumental also in making sure we were getting this taken care of.”
“Over 22,000 wreaths are being placed, today, in Knox County,” she said. “You all are part of that.”
She said VHSA’s mission is to make sure not only the veterans buried in Knox County’s state cemeteries — John Sevier East Tennessee Cemetery, Lions View East Tennessee Cemetery and Knoxville National Cemetery — get a wreath, but “we are now placing over 2 or 3,000 wreaths throughout Knox County.
“And it’s all through your all’s help that we were being able to do that,” she added. “We’ve got Revolutionary War veterans buried in [Pleasant Forest] Cemetery. We need to make sure we never forget those folks.”
