From left are: Doris Day, Ladies Auxiliary; Kevin Morin, Veteran; Lawrence Foster, Sons of AMVETS; Tracey Dore, Ladies Auxiliary; Laurie Lavertue, Ladies Auxiliary; Sandy Foster. Ladies Auxiliary; Don Lavertue, Volunteer; April Lajoie, Ladies Auxiliary; Gene Foster, Veteran; Jessica Gilman, Ladies Auxiliary; Melissa Grenier, Ladies Auxiliary; and Carol Lavertue, Volunteer. Courtesy photo
On a recent, Saturday morning earlier this month, beneath sunny, warm skies, 12 AMVETS Post 1 volunteers placed hundreds of Christmas wreathes on veterans’ graves throughout Woodlawn Cemetery. Wreaths were provided by Wreathes Across America.
Graves of many veterans were previously marked with small red flags by cemetery staff. This helped volunteers locate and place wreathes. But sharp-eyed volunteers also found un-flagged veterans’ graves – on which wreathes were placed.
“After doing this twice a year (Memorial Day flags is the other occasion), you get to know where the veterans are,” Don Lavertue said.
“Even though cemetery staff does a good job of marking veterans’ graves, there’s always some that get missed,” AMVET Gene Foster, who has been placing Memorial Day flags and Christmas wreathes for several years said. “Over the years some of us have come to know which ones those graves are and we make sure they get a wreath. But without volunteers with long memories, more graves would get overlooked.”
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