“Our mission, Remember, Honor, Teach, is carried out in part by coordinating wreath laying ceremonies a specified Saturday in December at Cedar Hill Memorial Park, Allentown, as well as veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in 50 states, ceremonies at sea and 24 national cemeteries on foreign soil,” Terry Decamp, of Whitehall, a member of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, said recently during the annual Wreaths Across America event.

According to the Wreaths Across America website, Morrill Worcester, owner of Worchester Wreath company of Harrington, Maine, was a 12-year-old paper boy for the Bangor Daily News when he won a trip to Washington D.C. His trip was one he would never forget and Arlington National Cemetery made an especially indelible impression on him. This experience followed him throughout his life and career in business, reminding him his good fortune was due in, a large part, to the values of this nation and the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

In 1992, Worcester Wreath had a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. Remembering his boyhood experience at Arlington, Worcester realized he had an opportunity to honor U.S. veterans.

Arrangements were made for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery, a section which had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year.

A number of individuals and organizations joined the effort.

James Prout, owner of a local trucking company, donated transportation of the wreaths to the Virginia cemetery from Maine. Volunteers from the local American Legion and VFW post gathered with members of the community to decorate each wreath with red bows. Members of the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C. helped organize the presentations of the wreaths, including a special ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The annual tribute continued quietly for several years, until 2005, when a photo of the stones at Arlington, adorned with wreaths and covered in snow, circulated. Suddenly, the project received national attention.

Thousands of requests poured in from all over the country from people wanting to help Arlington, to emulate the Arlington project at their national and state cemeteries or to simply share their stories and thank Morrill Worcester for honoring veterans.

In 2008, over 300 locations held wreath ceremonies in every state, Puerto Rico and in 24 cemeteries overseas.

More than 60,000 volunteers now participate in the event. Donations include gifts from individual wreath sponsors, corporate donors and volunteer professional truck drivers.