Maine wreaths a tradition at Arlington National Cemetery

WASHINGTON – Section 33 of Arlington National Cemetery was decorated with about 10,000 of Morrill Worcester’s wreaths from Harrington, Maine, on Saturday morning.

For 16 years now, Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co., has donated about 5,000 wreaths to the cemetery to help honor the fallen soldiers buried there. This year, he doubled his donation.

“It’s really not that much – for us, it’s not much,” Worcester said in a phone interview Friday. “We do about 600,000 pieces annually, so 10,000 doesn’t take long.”

Worcester started the tradition because he ended up with too many wreaths one year and “didn’t want to throw them away.” He recalled visiting Arlington as a 12-year-old and decided it would be the perfect spot for his extra wreaths.

Worcester visits the cemetery every year to present the wreaths. This year, while traveling the 740 miles between Harrington and Washington, Worcester made 24 stops.

“We’ve stopped at schools, veterans’ homes and wreath-laying ceremonies in town squares, all along the way,” Worcester said.

At his final stop in Arlington, Worcester was joined by more than 1,500 volunteers from around the country who helped place the wreaths. Service groups, school groups and relatives of those buried in Arlington pitched in Saturday.

In addition to the assigned Section 33, wreaths also were laid at Sen. Edmund Muskie’s grave, the Battleship Maine monument, the Kennedy family memorials and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

At noon, four wreaths were presented to the tomb guards who took them to four unknown soldiers buried there.

Worcester sent 286 additional wreaths to state and national veterans’ cemeteries around the country and to 24 cemeteries overseas that honor American veterans. All of these presentations were coordinated to coincide with the noon ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington.

The Maine State Society, a group of Mainers who have transplanted to the Washington area, has been helping to place the wreaths since the first year.

“It’s just a nice thing to do,” said Jack Metzler, superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery. “People are happy to come here and give some time and decorate the soldiers who are buried here.”

Wayne Hanson, the Maine State Society volunteer coordinator for the event, said the cemetery superintendent assigns the wreaths to a single section, but wreaths often find their way into other sections.

“What Mr. Worcester allows is, if you are there to help lay a wreath and you have a husband or a relative buried in some other section, he’ll let you take a wreath and put it in that other section,” Hanson said in a phone interview Friday.

Metzler said the event helps honor those whose families have passed on and whose graves are otherwise forgotten.

“That’s what this was all about,” Worcester said. “It’s certainly not about me or any one of us; it’s about remembering the veterans.”