Wreaths honor veterans Saturday
For the fifth year, volunteers will gather Saturday to honor veterans buried at the Albany Cemetery with a memorial wreath for the holiday season as part of the National Wreaths Across America Day observance.
Family members and other local residents will meet at 10 a.m. at the pavilion located at the local cemetery for a brief ceremony prior to laying wreaths on approximately 625 graves.
“We will gather a little before the program starts to hand out lists of veterans’ graves sites in the different sections of the cemetery,” Diana Nail said.
Nail and Ann Harwood have assumed the organization of the project this year for the first time, with Henry and Melinda Musselman again providing the wreaths that are being shipped from Maine.
Local veteran Johnnie Hud-man will speak during the short ceremony, which will include veteran Dan Key playing Taps.
“We have heard from most of the volunteers who have helped in the past,” Nail said. “Anyone who would like to help or who are family members wanting to place wreaths on the graves of relatives are welcome to help.”
Nail said that family members can contact her ahead of time or prior to the ceremony to reserve a wreath to be placed on specific gravesites. The National Wreaths Across America Day is held across the country in recognition of the veterans now deceased who have served the country in the armed forces.
Volunteers will be pro-vided a list of gravesites near in proximity to one another using a cemetery map that has been divided into 18 sections.
The location of gravesites and dividing of the ceremony was organized by Saundra and Jim Nobles when the project first started in Albany several years ago. The Nobles have retired from the project with Nail and Harwood volunteering to take over the organizing of the event, assisted by Lynda Heatly.
“Diana and Ann have done a super job jumping in to take over the organization of the program and getting the lists ready for volunteers,” Melinda Musselman said. “This is a special project for us and is sort of our gift to the community.”
Gravesites of veterans in the Albany Cemetery include soldiers that served in the Civil War, including one Union soldier. Also, there are numerous graves of veterans who served in both World Wars, the Korean War and Vietnam War, along with other recent conflicts.
