KILLEEN — Hundreds of volunteers helped with the sometimes overlooked part of the wreath events at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery last weekend.
Veteran and Harker Heights resident Meredith Stewart was among the volunteers who helped remove the wreaths from in front of the grave stones.
Stewart, who normally does events similar to it in Arkansas, said last weekend was the first time he has done one of the wreath events in Killeen.
“It means a lot,” he said of the sacrifice of volunteers who help. “It backs up the words that a lot of people say that they support the veteran when you see people come out — organizations come out — to do things like this and actually support the veteran, and it shows that their words are not just hollow words.”
Previously, Stewart has laid a wreath at his father’s grave at a veterans cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has also done so at arguably the most famous cemetery in the country.
“When I was in the military, we used to go to Arlington National Cemetery as well and participated in things like this,” he said.
Jean Shine of Harker Heights, founder of Wreaths for Vets, which organizes the wreath prep, laying and retrieval every year, said volunteers like Stewart make the events possible.
The events also promote solidarity.
“Someone said to me a few months ago, she said, ‘Jean, this is the number one thing that brings all of our communities together every year,’” Shine said.
Volunteers come from all over Central Texas to help with the wreath events every year.
In the several years of doing the events, Shine has heard many stories of the impact they make on volunteers.
“At the laying (in November), my nephew was at the end ... he walked by this grave that he knew that was my neighbor. And there was a lady there just sobbing, and he didn’t recognize her,” Shine said. “Finally, he said, ‘Ma’am, did you know Tony?’ And she said, ‘No, but he died the same day my husband died, who’s buried in a veteran cemetery on the East Coast.’
“It was her way of being able to grieve and heal. And it’s just so many stories like that just rock your soul.”
Some of the volunteers who have helped from the first day of the organization’s inception are grateful for those who retrieve the wreaths.
“Wreath-retrieval used to be one of the hardest days because we didn’t have as much of a turnout,” said Charlene Pride, an eight-year veteran of the Army, who is now a registered nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Temple.
As it were, the retrieval draws a smaller crowd than the other two events, staying true to trends.
“We didn’t have as much of a turnout like when it’s time to prepare or lay them; there’s more fanfare,” Pride said. “Wreath-retrieval was like they forgot about us; like they forgot about the work that still has to be done. So, this is amazing to see all these people here.”
On the Friday before the retrieval, volunteers did a pre-retrieval and “retired” around 1,000 wreaths that will no longer be in service for the event. If trends of new burials and interments continue, Shine estimated that Wreaths for Vets will need to purchase an additional 2,500 wreaths prior to November.
In order to do so, the organization needs donations.
Anyone compelled to donate can do so on the website (www.wreathsforvets.org) or by mail to Wreaths for Vets at PO BOX 2790, Harker Heights, TX, 76548.
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