Deceased military personnel remembered this holiday season with wreaths

Written by Phil Cerroni

By Jess Paniszczyn 

Though they have gone to their eternal rest, regardless of the era or branch they served in, deceased military veterans were not forgotten this holiday season. In thousands of communities across the nation, people gathered to remember these honored dead by placing wreaths upon their places of rest. This beautiful tradition also serves to teach a new generation to be mindful of those who have come before them.

In Irving, the staffs of Aria, Brown’s Memorial, Calvary, Chism-Smith, Donnelly’s Colonial, Mt. Carmel and Restland Coppell Chapel funeral homes joined with Oak Grove Memorial Gardens to welcome the public to the Wreaths Across America Project’s third annual event on Dec. 15. Following a brief ceremony, family and community members helped volunteers lay over 1,000 wreaths.

Representing Ennis Legion Post 361, Michael Cook and Torry Robinson traveled to Irving to participate in the wreath laying.

“I think it is great,” Cook said. It would be cool if we could get some of the cemeteries nearer to Ennis to participate in this event too, because this Wreaths Across America is pretty much the closest one around us. I love doing this. I think it’s fun.”

“We were walking around to make sure the graves that just have emblems didn’t get missed,” Robinson said. “There are a lot of graves with just an emblem, so you kind of need to know what the military emblems from WWI all the way up look like.”