Hundreds of area residents turned out Saturday to honor the men, women and children who rest in Culpeper National Cemetery, during the community’s Wreaths Across America observance.
After a brief cemetery near the cemetery’s administration building, they flooded across the historic landscape to place wreaths—all donated to the cause—on 6,858 graves of U.S. military personnel and their loved ones. Created in 1867, the cemetery holds the remains of 11,000 people.
“We are here because someone gave their life,” event coordinator Sharon Croushorn told participants during the solemn ceremony. “... The freedoms we enjoy have not come without a price.”
U.S. military men and women have sacrificed so Americans can “worship as we sit fit” and raise their children with the right to succeed no matter what ideal they pursue, Croushorn said.
The country they defend upholds justice and equality, and “stands as a shining beacon of freedom and liberty to the world,” she said.
Every branch of the U.S. military is represented in the people interred in Culpeper National Cemetery, Croushorn said. Saturday’s ceremony included people representing each of the armed services.
Kelsa Knick sang the national anthem, attendees recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag, and members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2524 posted the colors. The Rev. Erick Kalenga, pastor of His Village Church, gave the invocation.
Cemetery Director Jason Hogan praised Croushorn, Wreaths Across America site coordinator Jennifer Smith and other volunteers for their months of hard work, as well as his staff.
“We have a small staff of 10 here, but they don’t get any better,” Hogan said. “This place is absolutely gorgeous.”
Smith read a poem by Andrea Christensen Brett, which begins thus:
”You may not know me the first time we meet,
”I’m just another you see on the street.
”But I am the reason you walk and breathe free.
”I am the reason for your liberty,
”I am a veteran.”
Representatives of each military branch, including the Space Force and U.S. Merchant Marine, placed wreaths at the cemetery’s Armed Services Memorial in honor of particular veterans.
Gold Star Family parents Andre and Heather Thomas, of Rixeyville, laid a wreath in memory of their son, Sgt. Cameron Thomas, a 23-year-old Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan during a fight with ISIS in 2017.
Benjamin and Luke Croushorn placed a POW-MIA wreath in memory of Robert G. Finch, a World War II prisoner of war.
The Nolff and Rinker families posted a “22 A Day” wreath in memory of Joshua P. Rinkers. The phrase refers to the 22 U.S. military veterans lost to suicide each day.
Volunteers who had a loved one in the cemetery were given the first opportunity to lay a wreath on their gravesite.
The local Wreaths Across America group needs volunteers to clean up 2021’s wreaths on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 8 a.m.
Culpeper’s next Wreaths Across America Day will be Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022.
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December 22, 2021 at 09:53AM
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Culpeper's Wreaths Across America Day draws big crowd - Culpeper Star-Exponent
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