'Wreaths Across America' : Crowd pays special holiday tribute at Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery

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'Wreaths Across America' : Crowd pays special holiday tribute at Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery

By Ellen W. Todd Sanford News Writer
Thursday, December 16, 2010

photo by Ellen W. Todd Tim DeCosta, left, and Leon Tanguay carry a wreath representing prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action during the Dec. 11 "Wreaths Across America" ceremony at the Southern Maine Veteran's Memorial Cemetery. Tanguay was a prisoner of war during World War II.

SPRINGVALE — More than 100 people took the time from their holiday preparations last Saturday to attend the first Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Springvale.

"The support that the town showed was fantastic," said Cindy DeCosta, who, as the chair of the events committee for Rolling Thunder Chapter 2 Maine, organized the Dec. 11 ceremony. DeCosta estimated that there were 125 to 150 people in attendance at the event at the new cemetery.

Among the participants in the ceremony were a color guard from the Massabesic High School Navy Junior ROTC and a Sanford High School quartet that sang the national anthem and "Silent Night." Kenneth Kingsley, commander of Kennebunk VFW Post No. 6548, played the bagpipes. Sanford Fire Chief Raymond Parent, who is the chair of the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery Committee, and Sanford Town Council Chair Joseph Hanslip both spoke at the ceremony and both commented on the large turnout.

Attending the ceremony were the members of Boy Scout Troop 369 and Cub Scout Pack 369 of Lebanon and their leaders, town officials and employees, and area veterans, their families and friends.

"Part of what made this special was having Leon Tanguay participate," said DeCosta. "It was an honor to have him."

Leon Tanguay spent nine months as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. He was 19 when he was captured in August, 1944. As a scout for his platoon, Tanguay had gone out ahead of the rest of his unit as they made their way inland from the beaches of Normandy. He was alone when he was taken prisoner in Saint Lo, France. Tanguay and other POWs were liberated in April, 1945, after their German guards fled the camps shortly before the end of the war.

Tanguay and Tim DeCosta placed a wreath designated to remember and honor prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

Placing wreaths to honor veterans from other branches of service were Anita Manupelli, Air Force; Butch Larose and Billy White, U.S. Army; Ron Holley, Coast Guard; Dave Cabral, Marines; Scott Keller, Merchant Marines; Anne Broderick and Petty Officer Tim Thomas, Navy.

The local ceremony was one of 500 Wreaths Across America ceremonies held at cemeteries across the country to remember and honor veterans on Dec. 11. In the 18 years since the Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, first donated Christmas wreaths to be placed on soldiers' graves in Arlington National Cemetery, the project has grown to include thousands of volunteers who participate in laying wreaths on veterans' graves each year.

The second Saturday in December has been designated "Wreaths Across America Day."

The tradition began in Maine in 1992 when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company, wanted to honor the veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery during the Christmas season. He donated 5,000 wreaths, and with the help of U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, arranged to have them placed on the graves in "one of the older sections of the cemetery, a section which received fewer visitors with each passing year," according to the Wreaths Across America website. The project became an annual event for Worcester.

In 2005, a photograph circulated on the Internet showing row after row of white grave stones surrounded by fresh snow, each stone decorated with a dark green wreath with a red bow. The photo brought the project national attention.

DeCosta and her husband Tim are members of Rolling Thunder and have been involved with Wreaths Across America for the last four years. In 2008, she said, they traveled to Arlington National Cemetery to help place wreaths on soldiers' graves there.

Cindy, who is the treasurer and chair of the events committee for the local Rolling Thunder chapter, said she mentioned the Wreaths Across America project several weeks ago. That got her appointed to the chapter's cemetery committee.

She said she contacted the Wreaths Across America location leader for Maine and learned that the Springvale cemetery was not on the list of participating cemeteries. She applied for the new cemetery to be part of the project, and the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery was added to the Wreaths Across America itinerary.

This year, trucks loaded with wreaths and volunteer escorts were scheduled to leave Harrington High School on Sunday, Dec. 5, and arrive in College Park, Md. on Friday, Dec. 10. The itinerary included several wreath laying ceremonies along the route and ending with the trip to Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday morning. In addition to laying wreaths at the cemetery, the group's schedule included a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown and a ceremony at the Pentagon to honor the men and women who died on Sept 11, 2001. After that ceremony, the volunteers were scheduled to return to Arlington for a wreath ceremony at the Women in Military Service For America Memorial.

Following the wreath laying ceremony in Springvale, additional wreaths were placed on the white headstones installed in the new veterans cemetery since its dedication in August.