Beaufort hoping for 6th straight year all headstones are covered
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Time is almost up.
Wreaths Across America Day is set for noon on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at Beaufort National Cemetery, and Beaufort Coordinator David Edwards said Monday that Beaufort is still short more than 1,700 wreaths.
“All I know how to do is to keep begging,” Edwards said. “All I ask people to do is recognize we’ve got servicemen and servicewomen that gave their life for this country, either in combat or through their service, and we should honor these people every year.”
According to Edwards, there are roughly 30,000 interned at Beaufort National Cemetery, and roughly 25,000 wreaths are needed to cover all the headstones.
Should Edwards and the Beaufort community close the gap in time, it would make six straight years every headstone had been covered.
Edwards said the drop dead time to sponsor a wreath is early Saturday morning.
To sponsor a Remembrance Wreath, which costs $17, click on the QR code on Wreaths Across America Beaufort’s Facebook page or visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/GA0175P. That code at the end of the web address guarantees the wreaths purchased make their way to Beaufort.
The trucks and motorcycle escort will arrive at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, with the brief ceremony beginning at noon.
Cemetery gates will be closed at 9 a.m. so people are asked to park on the surrounding streets, or in the County Government Building on Ribaut Road. No cars will be allowed to park on the Avenue of Flags — it needs to be kept clear for the tractor trailers and motorcycle escort.
Family members of the two Medal of Honor recipients will place the first wreaths. The public is asked to let families who have loved ones buried in Beaufort National Cemetery, place their wreaths on their loved ones’ graves first, then the public is welcome to place the remaining wreaths.
If parking inside the cemetery, please do not park on the grass, tree roots or graves. Please stay on the pavement. When parking on side streets around the cemetery wall, please be equally attentive and keep parking on private property to a minimum.
Wreaths Across America Beaufort is in its 19th year of attempting to make sure all veteran heroes buried in Beaufort National Cemetery have a Remembrance Wreath on their headstones.
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun 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 2023, the organization placed more than three million sponsored veterans’ wreaths at more than 3,700 participating locations nationwide and in Europe. For more information, visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
