WAA’s Escort to Arlington convoy arrives at Polar Park in Worcester, Massachusetts, Tuesday, December 9.
A convoy of semi-trailer trucks left Columbia Falls, Maine, last weekend on its way to Arlington National Cemetery, where volunteers will honor veterans in a wreath-laying ceremony, known as Wreaths Across America Day, this Saturday, December 13.
The annual event depends on volunteers, and the trucking industry is a major player in those efforts. This year, 400 transportation companies and more than 1,200 drivers have volunteered to “move the mission,” which includes the more than one-mile-long convoy from Maine to Arlington, Va., as well as individual trucks that will pick up loads of wreaths and deliver them to cemeteries across the country.
All told, truckers will move 800 loads of wreaths from Maine to nearly 5,600 locations this Wreaths Across American Day, which is sponsored by the non-profit organization Wreaths Across America (WAA).
WAA dates back to 1992, when Morrill Worcester, owner of Harrington, Maine-based Worcester Wreath Co., delivered a load of 5,000 surplus wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery to honor veterans. Today, Worcester and his wife, Karen, oversee efforts to deliver millions of wreaths each year—3.1 million wreaths will be placed this Saturday. The couple also takes part in the convoy’s “Escort to Arlington,” which makes four stops a day on its weeklong trek to Virginia, honoring veterans and thanking volunteers—especially the truckers.
“[Wreaths Across America] does not exist without the trucking industry. Period,” Karen Worcester, who is also WAA’s executive director, told attendees at a convoy stop in Massachusetts Tuesday. “The drivers and the companies are the best ambassadors we have. We want you all to know how important you are. Because you move the mission.”
Nearly 250 people gathered for the convoy stop at Polar Park in Worcester, Ma., home of the Worcester Red Sox, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Attendees included volunteers, local government officials, law enforcement, trucking industry professionals, residents, and veterans—including more than 20 Gold Star Family members. The Polar Park stop was the first major event hosted by the Transportation Assn. of Massachusetts (TAM), according to the group’s Executive Director Kevin Weeks.
“We were honored to have so many people here—especially the Gold Star Families,” Weeks said after the event. “It’s an honor to be a part of this in some small way.”
Speakers included Weeks and Worcester as well as: Gold Star father and Massachusetts State Representative Steven Xiarhos, whose son, US Marine Corporal Nicholas G. Xiarhos, was killed in Afghanistan in 2009; Gold Star sister Melissa Hanks Ketchel, whose brother, Lance Corporal Michael Wayne Hanks, was killed in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004; Nicholas Charrette, deputy chief engagement officer for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans’ Services; U.S. Army veteran, professional truck driver, and WAA convoy driver Patrice Cook; and trucking industry consultant Elisabeth Barna, of EAB Strategies, LLC.
The convoy stops are part of WAA’s larger mission to “Remember, Honor, Teach”—remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach the next generation the value of freedom, according to WAA. The group carries out that mission by hosting veterans’ services and events throughout the year.
“What began 33 years ago as a pilgrimage by a Maine wreath maker in a single truck to deliver 5,000 wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery as a gesture of thanks has become a year-long mission to Remember, Honor, Teach,” WAA said in a statement announcing the Escort to Arlington route earlier this year.
For more information about Wreaths Across America Day, visit wreathsacrossamerica.org. To follow the route and learn more about year-long events visit Wreaths Across America Radio.
