Local Volunteers Renew Effort to Place Wreaths at Soldiers’ Graves
Over the past few years Cynthia Abbott Kauffman has made sure that veterans who died in battle and buried in several Westchester cemeteries aren’t forgotten at holiday time.
Kauffman, who co-founded Daughters of Liberty’s Legacy, a local nonprofit organization that promotes the preservation of history, has researched to find the graves of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice, from the Revolutionary War to the most recent battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Graves of deceased veterans who made it home will also be decorated.
Volunteers from Daughters of Liberty’s Legacy will place at least 200 wreaths at the graves of these soldiers at seven cemeteries around the county during the weekend of Dec. 15-16. On Dec. 15, a special ceremony will be held at Gate of Heaven Cemetery’s Taconic Parkway entrance at noon before the wreaths are laid. The public is invited to attend.
There will also be seven specially prepared wreaths to adorn memorials around the county. Those seven wreaths represent each branch of the military.
“It’s a time of year where people always think about family and there are a lot of people serving today who are not home for Christmas and hopefully all of them will come home,” Kauffman said. “But there are a lot of them who should be remembered how they gave their lives for our country, and for those who served and did come home, we want to remember them as well.”
The local ceremony is part of Wreaths Across America where more than 400 similar ceremonies and wreath-laying efforts will be coordinated simultaneously on Dec. 15 around the United States. Wreaths Across America was started by the owners of Worcester Wreath Co. in Maine in the early 1990s when they placed extra holiday wreaths at veterans’ graves.
Eventually, their wreaths were placed at Arlington National Cemetery, but the campaign wasn’t widely known until a photo of those decorated graves went viral in 2005 that Wreaths Across America went nationwide.
For Daughters of Liberty’s Legacy, this will be the fourth year that Kauffman, co-founder Debra Palazzo and organization volunteers have participated. The first year they had a handful of wreaths, but by last year the effort had grown to about 200, Kauffman said.
For this year, they have found soldiers who died in one of the nation’s battles at seven cemeteries: Gate of Heaven and Kensico cemeteries in Valhalla, Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, the Rural and Mount Cavalry cemeteries in White Plains and the burial grounds at the White Plains Presbyterian Church and the Hawthorne Reformed Church.
However, in order to buy the wreaths and decorate the graves of all those who died in battle and other veterans, donations are needed. Each wreath bought from Wreaths Across America costs $15.
Kauffman said every year the number of graves that have been identified grows and more donations are needed.
“We know we have enough graves that we can place as many as we get,” Kauffman said. “Last year we were just about 200, and if we can pass the 200 this year that would be great because that way all the graves that we found we won’t have to leave anybody unmarked.”
This year’s ceremonies will be dedicated to the more than 20 men killed aboard the USS Westchester County, a landing ship tank. It was attacked on Oct. 31, 1968, while serving in Vietnam. One victim of that attack is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, Kauffman said.
Anyone looking to help can make contributions online at DOLL1776.com. Checks can also be made to Daughters of Liberty’s Legacy, Inc. and mailed to 4 Grove Rd., North White Plains, N.Y. 10603. In addition to single donations of $15, sponsorships or $105 can be contributed to represent each military branch (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POW/MIA).
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/