Volunteers Gather Wreaths For Disposal at Arlington National Cemetery

By Guy Williams

Mother Nature withheld her winter fury and allowed volunteers to gather at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday morning 24 January 2015. While a bit of sleet and snow remained in the air, volunteers collected the wreaths laid on the markers of our veterans earlier in December. With smiles and a few pairs of wet gloves, volunteers stacked thousands of wreaths in the strategically placed dumpsters around the cemetery. Everyone worked together and we collected the majority of the wreaths by 1030 hrs.

Apart from the solemnity that always permeates Arlington, the sense of civic virtue struck me as I watched my fellow Americans gathered at the cemetery today. The volunteers came from all walks of life and I felt a great deal of pride in my fellow citizens that took time out today to brave the weather and pay respect to our fallen. The enormity of our nation’s efforts for over two hundred years stands silently in dignified rows at the cemetery. One cannot escape the incredible cost we bore throughout the years as visitors gaze down the rows of markers.

I found APUS Senior Manager Cindy Aitken from the Community Engagement Department along with Robin dutifully hauling wreaths to the dumpster. Cindy possesses and indefatigable sense of optimism and always has a smile for students and alumni that she encounters. I take a great deal of pride in the knowledge that our school sponsors excellent volunteer activities such as the Wreaths across America Program. I wish more organizations encouraged such volunteerism and promoted civic pride rather than individualism and mercenary attitudes.

After I finished cleaning up, I chatted briefly with Cindy and Robin and made my way over to section sixty. I have a few comrades interned in that section and wanted to pay my respects to their memory and the times we shared together. As I walked amongst the rows, I noticed a woman sitting on tarp in front of a marker. I do not know if she was a wife, daughter, sister, or mother of a fallen service member, but her silence and intensity struck me as I quietly walked by searching for my friends. She did not cry or talk but I felt her sense of loss as she stared at the marker with a sad type of smile. The finality of death strikes all of us, but I think the sense of loss amongst the living is the saddest part of death. Medals, accolades, and a cold marker never replace the loss of a loved one and memories fade with age, but the love on that woman’s face shone as bright as the first day her love began.

For that unknown woman’s sake and for the countless others that have lost loved ones in the service of our country, make your love count and be an active participant in the present. Do not idly watch life go by or you will only have faint memories and regrets of what could have been.

Provided by American Public University. Guy Williams is a graduate from American Public University with a master’s degree in History.