The Wreaths Across America convoy made its way through Kennebunk on Wednesday, Dec. 16, on its way to Arlington National Cemetery. Tammy Wells Photo
KENNEBUNK — U.S. Navy veteran Jeff Browne stood, like the others, in the bitter 10-degree cold and waited for the convoy escorting a Wreaths Across America 18-wheeler down Route 1.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” said Browne. “Especially this year. It’s something positive and it is moving; it’s a great part of being in a small town.”
The convoy began its trek to Arlington National Cemetery from Columbia Falls, Maine, on Tuesday, and was set to arrive at its destination for Wreaths Across America Day on Saturday, Dec. 19, where the wreaths are laid on the graves of veterans. Similar exercises take place in cemeteries in communities across the country.
Jaidon Petersen, 9 and Nate Houdlette, 8, were among those who watched the Wreaths Across America convoy as it drove down Route 1 through Kennebunk on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Tammy Wells Photo
You could hear the sirens from the law enforcement escort — cruisers from a number of agencies in York and Cumberland counties signaling the arrival of the convoy on Wednesday, Dec. 16 — before you could see it. It rolled slowly past the gleaming steeple of the Unitarian Universalist Church, past the red brick Town Hall across the street, and under an arch of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport fire truck ladders sporting the American flag. The 18-wheeler sounded its horns and people waved their flags or videoed the event with mobile phones as it made its way down Route 1.
There were adults and kids and dogs and flags, and a good feeling in the air.
Collette Hamilton was there – she’d grabbed the flag that flies outside the home she shares with her husband, Jim because she couldn’t find a smaller one.
“It’s a cause dear to our hearts,” said Hamilton.
In past years, there were ceremonies in various Maine points, including Kennebunk, but the coronavirus pandemic changed everything and at one point, the wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery itself was canceled — and then quickly reinstated.
The Wreaths Across America convoy was escorted by local, county and state police agencies. Tammy Wells Photo
The story of Wreaths Across America is a familiar one and began in the early 1990s, when Maine wreath maker Morrill Worcester took 5,000 surplus wreaths one season and secured permission to place them on headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. Later, the nonprofit Wreaths Across America Foundation was formed and now thousands of wreaths are sponsored and placed at Arlington and on veterans’ graves in cemeteries across the country.
Among the others attending were Laura Houdlette and her son, Nate, 8, and Amanda Petersen, with her son, Jaidon, 9. It was the Houdlette’s first time attending, said Laura Houdlette, as the boys waved their flags.
“We’re a military family,” said Amanda Petersen, whose husband, Patrick, serves in the U.S. Air Force. “We take any chance we get to wave red, white and blue.”
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