HOLDEN, Maine — Two veterans with a total 68 years of service between them laid a wreath in front of the Holden Veterans Memorial on Saturday morning.
The two Holden men, Donald Varnum, who served in the Air Force and Air National Guard from 1958 to 1996, and Tom Copeland, who served in the Army and Navy from 1969 to 1999, stood at salute in a thin, fresh blanket of snow while a singer performed the “Star Spangled Banner.”
They were among about 40 community members gathered near the Holden Town Office on Saturday morning to honor deceased veterans who put their lives on the line for their country or lost their lives in its service.
There are 208 veterans buried across six Holden cemeteries, according to organizer Bonnie Clark. After the ceremony, volunteers split into groups and laid a wreath at the foot of every one of those graves.
Before heading to Hart’s Corner Cemetery, where about 130 of those veterans are buried, Clark said it was an honor to recognize the sacrifices of “those who have served to make this country what it is.” She said she organized the event in spite of her battle with cancer and chemotherapy treatments.
The Holden event was an extension of the national Wreaths Across America event.
The group creates and sends tens of thousands of wreaths to adorn veterans’ graves at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. This year’s wreaths arrived on Saturday.
More than 1,000 ceremonies, such as the one in Holden, were held in cemeteries across the country. In all, an estimated 700,000 wreaths were placed in honor of veterans across the nation, according to Wreaths Across America.
The group also met its goal of decorating the headstone of every one of the 230,000 veterans buried at Arlington, which had its 150th anniversary this past summer.
Clark said she traveled Down East to pick up her town’s share of the wreaths. The convoy of trucks carrying wreaths to Arlington used to pass through Holden, but in the past couple years, it has taken a coastal route to get to the nation’s capital.
Along the way, the convoy stopped at schools, American Legion halls, churches, veterans’ homes and other locations to help spread the word about the importance of remembering the sacrifices that veterans, military personnel and their families have made, often during Christmas and other holidays when they have been separated from their loved ones.
“This shows that those who serve aren’t forgotten,” Varnum said.
BDN reporter Bill Trotter contributed to this report.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213.