CALAIS , Maine — While the folks at Worcester Wreaths are completing plans for the annual Wreaths Across America convoy to place wreaths on the graves at Arlington National Cemetery, a smaller contingent will travel to Calais on Saturday for a ceremony to honor and remember Canadian allies who lost their lives in the service of their country.
The ceremony will begin at 11:45 a.m. at the International Bridge linking Calais and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and will involve representatives from the Gold Star Mothers Association in the U.S. and Silver Cross Mothers from Canada, parents who have lost a son or daughter during military service.
The idea was developed by Kathryn T. Cross, a Gold Star Mother from Glastonbury, Conn. who participated in the Wreaths Across America convoy last year. In a telephone interview Thursday, Cross said the program was designed to include Canadian neighbors in honoring fallen heroes from both sides of the border.
“We wanted to honor and remember those who have been lost from Canada,” Cross said. “This program is to remember their loss as well.”
The program is being called the HART program, for Honoring Allies and Remembering Together.
One of the key tenets of the Wreaths Across America program has been remembering those who have served, said Maj. Wayne Merritt of the Maine Civil Air Patrol who also serves as project manager for the wreaths project. Merritt said that many young men from Canada have come to the U.S. to serve in the military and many have lost their lives.
“This ceremony is an opportunity to give them the recognition they deserve,” he said. “It is an opportunity for us to let them know that we appreciate the sacrifices they made and that they have not been forgotten.”
According to Merritt, the ceremony will begin with cadets from the Civil Air Patrol and Cadets Canada each forming a color guard on their respective sides of the St. Croix River.
The cadets will form an escort for Gold Star Mothers and Silver Cross families as they march across the bridge and meet in the center. After the national anthems of both countries have been played, a Gold Star Mother will present a wreath to a Silver cross Mother. That wreath will be placed nearby at the Cenotaph Memorial Monument in St. Stephen.
Dignitaries from both countries will speak on the bridge and at a reception afterward at the Washington County Community College.
This is the first time the Wreaths Across America program has included the joint Canadian-American ceremony, but Merritt said that they hope to expand the program in the future to include sites all along the Canadian border.
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