# Honouring the Fallen with Xmas Wreaths @ Graveside



## The Bread Guy (5 Dec 2011)

I respect honouring of the fallen, but do we need _another_ ritual to muddy the waters and dilute the public's education about such things?

It appears a new group - Wreaths Across Canada - has come up with a new way to honour the fallen - this from The Canadian Press:


> A new organization wants to encourage Canadians to honour fallen troops by laying wreaths at military headstones across the country.
> 
> The inaugural event will take place .... at Beechwood National Cemetery in Ottawa, where approximately 2,700 soldiers are buried from the various wars the country has fought over the generations.
> 
> ...


  More from CTV.ca and Postmedia News

This, from the organization's "About Us" page:


> .... On December 4, 2011, Wreaths Across Canada will formally debut its mission by placing a wreath on the headstone of every veteran buried at the National Military Cemetery (NMC) at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa. We will invite the public and encourage young Canadians to participate in this most personal act of remembrance. We are committed to repeating this gesture of remembrance annually in Ottawa, and our vision is to have this ceremony of commemoration spread to every military cemetery across Canada.
> 
> As part of our mission to teach Canadian youth the value of freedom, we are developing a program for students to be unveiled, hopefully, in 2012. The intent is to offer a modest prize for the student who best researches and reports on a topic related to veterans buried in the NMC. Local school boards are enthusiastic about our program and there is a growing interest from other organizations and associations.
> 
> All too often when the image of Canadian war dead comes to mind, we think of those buried overseas at places like Vimy, Normandy, Ortona, or Hong Kong.  But over 250,000 veterans, many of whom fought in and survived those same battles, are now buried in military cemeteries throughout the nation. Veterans Affairs Canada alone is responsible for the maintenance of over 200,000 veterans’ graves in Canada and each year that figure grows as more graves are codified and added to their care. As well, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries in Canada contains the remains of over 18,000 service men and women who died in Canada while serving during the two World Wars ....


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## Rifleman62 (5 Dec 2011)

In Holland, on the 4th of May, Remembrance of the Dead, on the 5th Dutch Liberation Day, flowers are placed on the gravestones of all Allied dead. On Christmas eve, a candle is placed on each grave.

Photo 0ne is 1945, and photo two is Holten, Christmas 2007.


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## cupper (5 Dec 2011)

I heard on the radio today that they are doing something similar here at Arlington National Cemetery.


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## The Bread Guy (5 Dec 2011)

cupper said:
			
		

> I heard on the radio today that they are doing something similar here at Arlington National Cemetery.


Apparently, that's where the idea started, and it's spreading to Canada.


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## Michael OLeary (5 Dec 2011)

cupper said:
			
		

> I heard on the radio today that they are doing something similar here at Arlington National Cemetery.



http://www.wreathsacrosscanada.ca/index.php?page=warrant-officer-ret-d-craig-a-mcphee-cd&hl=en_CA



> Craig A. McPhee is the Founder and President of Wreaths Across Canada Inc. (W.A.C.).
> 
> After a visit to Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, Craig was moved by how the American servicemen and women are honoured each December by the placing of a wreath at the base of headstones. Wreaths Across America is the organization responsible for this touching and beautiful annual commemoration.


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## tomahawk6 (6 Dec 2011)

Wreath's across America has been doing this for several years now.

Gettysburg 2011







http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/


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