This past Saturday, my posse and I were aboard NAS Pensacola, FL for one of our favorite things ever – the annual Wreaths Across America Day. This year the day dawned crisp, clear and cold, which was a welcome change from last year’s balmy efforts in the 70-degree heat. And oh, my goodness – didn’t the glorious morning bring out wonderful volunteers by the hundreds of all ages.

We were especially grateful this year as the number of remembrance wreaths the Kiwanis were able to order climbed to 26,000.

For the past nine years, the Kiwanis Club of Big Lagoon-Pensacola has coordinated efforts to place thousands of memorial wreaths at Barrancas National Cemetery.

Inspired by the efforts of volunteers who began the program, the Kiwanis Club started by placing just over 3,000 wreaths on the gravesites in 2013. This year, they placed close to 26,000.

“Our goal is to cover all of Barrancas,” said Craig McDonnell, Kiwanis Club Division 1 Lt. Governor. “If we got to 40,000 wreaths, we could do that.”

A $15 donation covers the cost of one memorial wreath. Dozens of volunteers work together to place the wreaths at the graves on Wreaths Across America Day, which falls on the third Saturday in December. Placement takes place early in the morning with volunteers covering the 100 acres of the cemetery. Volunteers do it all over again when they pick up the wreaths on January 14.

When we get there at 7 a.m., the first hour and a half of our time is dedicated to helping families who arrived to place wreaths they’ve purchased for loved ones if they need it, as well as placing hundreds of wreaths ourselves for folks who’ve purchased them and requested specific grave sites. At every single grave, we fluff the bow, carefully set the wreath against the headstone, step back, salute, and speak the service member’s name aloud, thanking them for their service. We honor and remember each and every one of them.

At 9 a.m., we begin the general wreath placement on the rows themselves. Now, Barrancas is a very old cemetery. It was established in the early 1800’s, becoming a Naval Cemetery in 1838 – and it’s divided into two sections: the new Annex and the historic Old Section. The Annex has beautiful sweeping hillsides, and there are enough wreaths to completely cover every last grave there.

We’re not at that point yet in the historic part, where I’m a section leader. We have to fool the eye as best we can, staggering rows so the cemetery looks covered when one drives by. This year, with so many more wreaths and just tons of volunteers, my remarkably organized girlfriend (who I roped into being my second-in-command), our wonderful crew of friends and family, and I were hopping – running boxes of wreaths out through acres of graves, helping keep the staggered rhythm going, and finding work for everyone who wanted to help.

My husband spent the better part of the morning on a golf cart, taking cases of wreaths out to the farthest “back forty” of the cemetery. We hadn’t been able to reach it on foot last year – it was too far to lug them. I’d walked the grounds Friday with one of the terrific cemetery staff and he gave me the skinny on their cart paths. What a tremendous help!

This year we got it covered, and could bring back the boxes as folks emptied and broke them down.

My gosh, the time flew.

Every last one of those wreaths – purchased and donated by wonderful people – was laid with as much love and reverence as the first, and every last name was spoken aloud in remembrance.

Hubs and I first got started volunteering after we lost our precious nephew in a suicide bombing at Bagram, Afghanistan in 2016. We buried him at Arlington in November, and the sight of that wreath on his headstone just a month later…the thought still brings me to tears. It has every year since when either dear friends or his mom lay it lovingly against the stone.

And say his name.

We do it in his honor and speak those names gladly as a heartfelt “thank you.”

…“A lady was looking at her husband’s grave and asked if we placed the wreath there since she didn’t pay for it. I explained we try to put one at every grave,” McDonnell said. “She just threw her arms around me and cried.”

“It’s worth the miles of walking,” McDonnell added. “We do it to remember those who protected our country.”

Thank you for your service.

God bless America.