Saturday, Dec. 17, was a chilly, snowy, windy day at Oxford’s Ridgelawn Cemetery, 99 W. Burdick St. It was a solemn day also.

Volunteers from the community, as well as Boyscout Troop 366, scoured the cemetery grounds for the gravesites of United States veterans – over 200. On each gravesite a wreath was laid as part of Wreaths Across America Day ceremonies. According to Wreaths Across America website, “Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach is carried out by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at more than 3,700 additional locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad.”

Locally, about 25 wreaths were placed on veteran gravesites at North Oxford Cemetery and Kingsbury Cemetery.

After the wreaths were placed on veteran gravesites, members of American Legion Walter Fraser Post 108 had a brief ceremony where they placed wreaths on white crosses representing those who served in the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Merchant Marines, U.S. Navy, and U. S. Space Force. A final wreath was placed on a cross honoring all those servicemen and women whose last known status was either prisoner of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA). — Don Rush