Wreaths Across America Come to Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport

From Wreaths Across America: Local volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol's Stratford Eagles Composite Squadron are working hard to ensure that all veterans laid to rest at Mountain Grove Cemetery, located in Bridgeport, are honored this December on National Wreaths Across America Day.

This year, the ceremony, held simultaneously across the country at more than 1,000 locations, will be on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016. The goal: to place a live, balsam fir wreath at the headstone of every veteran buried there and say each person’s name, so their memory lives on. The Stratford Eagles Squadron is hosting a fundraisers to sponsor the 2, 501 wreaths needed to honor every veteran at Mountain Grove. Each wreath sponsorship costs $15, with $5 going to the local fundraising group as part of a special fundraising program developed by WAA.

Those interested in sponsoring a wreath through the Stratford Eagles Squadron can do so by accessing the following website: https://wreaths.fastport.com/donateLocation.html?page=26084&relate=15594
“Each and every wreath is a gift from an appreciative person or family who knows what it means to serve and sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy,” said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America. “We are so humbled that the communities of Stratford and Bridgeport are participating in our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach.”

The Stratford Eagles Composite Squadron is coordinating the fundraising event to raise money for both WAA and to facilitate unit programming for our cadets and senior members in order to better carry out the mission of Civil Air Patrol.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.

National Wreaths Across America Day is a free event, open to all. For more information, to donate or to sign up to volunteer, please visit www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org.

Image Courtesy of Wreaths Across America