However, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for participating cemeteries, she added. Planned strategies include drive-through wreath laying and stretching out the process over the course of multiple days so smaller numbers of people are on site at a given cemetery at the same time, she said. Worcester said that volunteers are getting creative in their strategies to keep the tradition alive while mitigating their COVID-19 risk. The cemetery posted an identical news update to its website, and McCarthy took credit for the move on Twitter. 17 press briefing.īut 13 minutes before the call kicked off, the organization explained, it received an email from Army public affairs informing it of Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy’s decision. Presenting such a large event threatened its ability to carry out its “core mission of laying veterans and their eligible family members to rest,” stated Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of the Office of Army National Cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery, in the release.įollowing the announcement and some Twitter backlash, the nonprofit says it “made some phone calls, emails, pleas to the White House” before organizing the Nov. “Following a thorough analysis of the annual Wreaths Across America Wreaths-In event this year, and in close collaboration with the Joint Task Force, National Capital Region, we determined that we could not implement sufficient controls to mitigate the risks associated with hosting an event of this size under current and forecasted infection and transmission rates, while still conducting a respectful and honorable public event,” the release stated. The cemetery initially deemed the move necessary due to both the regional and nationwide COVID-19 risk, it wrote in a Nov. The change in course came less than 24 hours after the cancellation was initially announced. 17 press call.īut the question of where that decision came from has evolved into a political whodunnit of the do-gooder variety. “I am very pleased to report that today we were able to have these discussions with the cemetery’s leadership team, and they have informed us of their willingness to work with us to develop other options to allow the safe placement of veterans’ wreaths this December,” Wreaths Across America Executive Director Karen Worcester told reporters on a Nov. ACMi is dedicated to providing an electronic forum for the free exchange of information and ideas which reflect the talents, skills, interests, concerns, and diversity of the Arlington, Massachusetts community.Arlington National Cemetery’s decision to forbid the nonprofit Wreaths Across America from placing holiday wreaths on the graves of the fallen veterans laid to rest on its hallowed grounds-as well as at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in Washington-this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been reversed. This video was created in coordination with Arlington Community Media, Inc. Lauren Boudreau-Steeves and Iron Mountain are sponsoring the event with support from the DeVito Funeral Home Attendees will be required to wear a face mask while maintaining social distancing. The ceremony will be conducted outside the chapel building at Mt. Families are encouraged to hang a personal memento on the tree to honor or to remember a veteran. In addition to the wreath laying ceremony, the town will dedicate a "Remembrance Tree" for residents to honor their own veterans. The event has been coordinated and led by local volunteers to place wreaths at the designated veteran burial lots. 19, joining more than 2,100 other locations across the country. The cemetery will host a wreath-laying ceremony on National Wreaths Across America Day Dec. Pleasant Cemetery in Arlington has been named an official Wreaths Across America location this year.
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