Veterans' graves missing holiday wreaths in Raleigh
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- At Arlington National Cemetery, and at over 1,000 cemeteries across the country, people place wreaths on veterans' graves for the holiday season.
Sabreina Johnson was at this year's ceremony at the Raleigh National Cemetery. She helped lay 2,500 wreaths there, but they were short 4,000 more.
"During the ceremony there was a young lady who came to visit her family member and she actually walked through the cemetery at the back over to the far left hand side where there was a tombstone with no wreath," Johnson said. "It just broke my heart to see someone come, because how do you answer why your loved one doesn't deserve a wreath and someone has a wreath."
Wreaths Across America coordinates with the nationwide December event.
"There's people, even current soldiers now, don't come home for the holidays, their family members don't have that love one to sit around the table," Johnson explained.
When you see a cemetery lined with headstones and wreaths, you can remember our soldiers away from home, the lives lost, and the sacrifice they made.
"Cemeteries are for the living," Johnson said. "Every headstone has a story."
But, not every headstone has a wreath.
"My father is buried in a national cemetery and I'm not sure if he has a wreath on his headstone or not," Johnson explained. "But I can't imagine walking through the whole cemetery seeing wreaths on loved ones' graves just to get to mine and be none. Every service member out here deserves a wreath."
Wreaths Across America is already raising money for next December in the hopes that no headstone goes unadorned. Wreaths cost $15.
Click here to donate to Wreaths Across America.
