BY DOUGLAS GRAVES

Special to The Press

A blue sky and bright sunlight bathed the hillside Fountain Hill Cemetery on Graham Street as the local Wreaths Across America representative conducted a short, noon ceremony Dec. 16, 2023, honoring the veterans buried in the 12-acre graveyard.

Veterans’ graves were marked with American flags making it easier for attendees to set the pine bough wreaths in place.

Some of the memorial stones were impressive obelisks, others simple and often faded marble slabs. One mossy stone had toppled onto the uneven ground, but a slender young woman struggled and set it upright in the winter grass.

An opening invocation followed by a soloist singing the national anthem commenced the ceremony.

Volunteers from the crowd were called upon to place a wreath on each of the white Christian crosses used to symbolize each of the Armed Services, plus one to represent the missing in action and prisoners of war.

The U.S. Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines were also represented. Someone remarked the newly established U.S. Space Force did not yet have a cross in the lineup.

Marine veteran Brian Smith of Nazareth placed a wreath on a cross honoring the U.S. Marine Corps veterans who have passed away.

A bugler played taps during the wreath laying at the seven white crosses. The somber music filled the cold air rustling the bare branches and eddying among the gray tombstones.