This year I'm not volunteering at the White House. Instead I decided to help with the annual wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery. Hans and I arrived by metro with over 5,500 other volunteers. When we reached Memorial Avenue, over 60 semi trucks were making their way onto the grounds, accompanied by an escort of motorcycle riders and other national law enforcement. We walked past McClellan Gate where the opening ceremony was going to happen at 9:00 am. Instead of hanging around with the large crowd we walked for about at hour towards the back of the cemetery (section 17 to be precise), where relatively older (and not as visited) grave sites are. Once the event coordinators got the go-ahead at 9:30 everyone lined up and started placing wreaths for the next several hours. Over 200,000 wreaths were placed (though Wreaths Across America is still short of its goal to cover every headstone). It was a moving and wonderful experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment