Harrisburg, Pa. – On Dec.7, the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association joined other states and the District of Columbia in honoring veterans with a remembrance wreath laying ceremony at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, according to a news release.
The ceremony in the Rotunda of the State Capitol featured: Senator Andrew Dinniman, member of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee; State Representative Barbara McIlvaine Smith; State Representative Harry Readshaw; Sergeant Amber Blanton, Pennsylvania National Guard; Major General Jessica L. Wright, adjutant general, Pennsylvania National Guard; Frank Mills, Sr., State Commander, Veterans of Foreign Wars; Floyd Turner, II, Pennsylvania Sons of the American Revolution; Major Max Furman, Chaplain, Pennsylvania Army National Guard; Buglers, Members of the Red Rose Honor Guard and Tioga Honor Guard; Flag Folding by Elmer Huels and Edwin Calhoun, Tioga County Honor Guard; Dr. Clifford DeBaptiste, President of PFDA; Dean Wetzler, Jr., Chair of the event; and Walt Burnett, state coordinator and members of the Pennsylvania Military Funeral Honors, who posted the national and state colors to honor all the current and fallen veterans of the Commonwealth.
More than 150 dignitaries and representatives from various veterans’ organizations, state veterans who have served throughout the world and members of the armed forces along with their families, Civil Air Patrol, funeral directors, state legislators and the general public participated in the event.
According to PFDA President Dr. Clifford DeBaptiste, “The Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association is honored to participate in this important national effort to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Honoring our veterans is the highest privilege afforded to any soldier, airmen, sailor marine.”
Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization formed in 2006 as part of the Worchester Wreath Company’s commitment to honor veterans buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 2007, the tradition became a national effort and for the first time, ceremonial wreaths were donated to 24 veterans’ cemeteries on foreign soil and aboard U.S. ships sailing on all seven seas at Christmas.
On Dec. 12, 2009 with the support of individual donors around the country, the project will place remembrance wreaths on thousands of veterans’ graves at more than 230 state and national cemeteries. Four cemeteries in Pennsylvania will be receiving wreaths: Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Philadelphia National Cemetery, National Cemetery of the Alleghenies-Bridgeville and Pennsylvania Soldiers and Sailors Home Cemetery-Erie.
For more information, contact Jo Ann Borsic at the PFDA at 800-692-6068. Information about the national program can be found at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.
Posted Dec. 9