26,000 wreaths must be sponsored to have one for every headstone at Beaufort National Cemetery
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
The final count, until the final count, is 20,133.
That’s the number of wreaths that have been sold for Saturday’s Wreaths Across America Day ceremony at Beaufort National Cemetery.
It takes 26,000 wreaths to place one on every headstone at the cemetery for the holidays. The next time Wreaths Across America releases a count will be when the final count is released at Saturday’s ceremony.
“People can buy them all the way until right up to the ceremony,” said David Edwards, the Coordinator of Wreaths Across America Beaufort. “What doesn’t get on the trucks will be counted for next year.”
Edwards said organizers have been fortunate enough to cover every headstone for the past two years.
“We have 26,000 interments out there, and we covered all of them the past two years,” Edwards said. “We’re working our butts off to get them that way this year. All we can do is ask the people to do the best they can.”
Wreaths cost $17 this year, up from $15 in years prior.
“We understand that’s up,” Edwards said. “Food’s up. Gas is up. Everything is up. If you can, please sponsor the wreaths. We’re only asking people to do what they can. We’re asking for one at a time. If people can’t afford one more, I understand.”
Wreaths can be purchased specifically for Beaufort National Cemetery by going to wreathsacrossamerica.org/GA0175P. Edwards said if the chat window comes up when people try to purchase wreaths, they should just ignore it. If there are any problems with purchases, people can contact him at 912-313-1506.
In the past, the organization, through donations, has been able to match one-for-one the purchase for wreaths. As of yet, Edwards doesn’t know if that’s happening this year.
“If you’re out there Saturday, they may be doing the match,” he said. “The organization isn’t telling us until the last minute.”
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery started by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
In 2022, the organization placed more than 2.7 million sponsored veterans’ wreaths at more than 3,700 participating locations nationwide. Edwards said those numbers now are more than 3 million wreaths in more than 4,200 cemeteries.
“When I was started, it was 1,500 locations,” Edwards said. “But these are not just vets in national cemeteries. These are any veterans anywhere in the U.S. Wreaths on every vet grave in the U.S. And it’s not a Christmas wreath, it’s a remembrance wreath to honor the veterans.”
All Wreaths Across America Day events are non-political/religious events and open to all people.
This year’s ceremony will begin at noon, Saturday, Dec. 16, at Beaufort National Cemetery. Those who would like to volunteer should be there sooner.
Those interested in witnessing the wreaths being escorted in by about 400 motorcycles should get to the Beaufort National Cemetery between 10:30 and 11 a.m. The trucks should arrive between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m.
The Charleston Drum & Fife Corps will play as the wreaths are marched down for the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, and POW/MIAs.
Organizers will ask the volunteers to go to their sections and will bring the wreaths to them. Wreaths will be placed first for the two Medal of Honor recipients interred at Beaufort National Cemetery, and then family members present will place their wreaths before everyone else.
Ribbons are to be placed in the 12 o’clock position. If there is a Star of David on the headstone, A Star of David will replace the ribbon on the wreath.
The wreaths are typically placed and the event is ending around 1:30 p.m.
“After two or three times, you get to know these people and you become a family with these people,” Edwards said.
On Saturday, the Thomas Heyward, Jr. Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will show Edwards that he is family when it awards him the DAR Medal of Honor at some point during the Wreaths Across America ceremony.
“We are awarding this honor to David Edwards, Coordinator for ‘Wreaths Across America’ for Beaufort National Cemetery,” said Gail Newton, Regent of the Thomas Heyward Jr. Chapter of the DAR. “Mr. Edwards has worked tirelessly for over 10 years to support this project that contributes so much to our community and richly deserves this award.”
The award, the most prestigious honor awarded by the DAR, is given to an adult man or woman who is a United States citizen by birth and has shown extraordinary qualities of leadership, trustworthiness, service, and patriotism. The recipient must have made unusual and lasting contributions to our
American Heritage by truly giving of himself or herself to his or her community, state, country, and fellow man.
Since its creation in 1972, the honor has been bestowed on fewer than 2,000 individuals.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
