Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that for the past eighteen years, the Worcester Wreath Company, started in 1963 in Harrington, Maine, has been making, delivering and laying wreaths in Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen soldiers?

In 1992, the company had made so many wreaths and didn’t have enough time in the season to sell them all. Owner Morrill Worcester reached out to Maine Senator Olympia Snowe and with her help contacted Arlington National Cemetery and asked if he could donate and lay these wreaths at the graves of fallen military. After receiving permission, he received an offer from a local trucking company from Jonesboro, Maine, Blue Bird Ranch, to haul the wreaths to Washington, DC for them at no cost.

The wreath-laying was mostly unnoticed by the general public, but that was not the goal of Morrill. He wanted to honor our fallen soldiers and military in some way. In 2007, after a snowfall in DC, someone took a picture of the wreaths lightly covered by snow in Arlington National Cemetary. That picture created a national buzz about who was doing this, and from there the Worcester Wreath Company’s name and yearly wreath laying became known nationwide.

To this day, Blue Bird Ranch still hauls the wreaths (for free) for the Worcester Wreath Company, and the laying of the wreaths continues. This year the wreaths will be laid in Arlington on December 12. Wreaths Across America was started by the company when so many groups around the country wanted to do for their local military cemeteries what Worcester Wreath Company was doing for Alrington.

photo of Worcester Wreath Company from jwakanmorgans' flickr page