Civil Air Patrol to Host National Wreaths Across America Ceremony

Civil Air Patrol’s Putnam County Composite Squadron invites the public to a wreath-laying ceremony, joining more than a million volunteers placing wreaths at over 1,300 locations across the country, to commemorate veterans on National Wreaths Across America Day.

The annual event honors veterans and seeks to further the WAA mission to “Remember, Honor and Teach,” ensuring the memory of those who served our nation endures. The squadron will place wreaths on the headstones of Putnam County service members laid to rest at Raymond Hill Cemetery on Saturday, December 16, 2017, at noon. The cemetery is located at 165 Gleneida Avenue, Carmel, New York.

Squadron members will also hold an additional ceremony, with the Enoch Crosby Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, on Sunday, December 17, at 11:30 a.m., to place wreaths on the headstones of American Revolutionary War veterans interred in Gilead Cemetery on Mechanic Street in Carmel, New York.

For information about the Wreaths Across America ceremonies contact Captain MacDermant at (845) 216-5433 or email elenamac@aol.com. Members of the Putnam County Composite Squadron meet on Friday’s from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Paladin Center, located at 39 Seminary Hill Road, Carmel, NY. For additional information visit www.facebook.com/PutnamCountyCompositeSquadron

Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond. For more information, to sponsor wreaths or to sign up to volunteer, please visit http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force. In this role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 aircraft, 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 80 lives annually. CAP’s 57,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. CAP also plays a leading role in aerospace/STEM education, and its members serve as mentors to 24,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com for more information.