This year's Wreath's for Heroes placed more than 1,500 wreaths on the graves of veterans Saturday morning at the National Cemetery to honor their service.
This is the fifth year for the program and the largest turn out they have had so far, said Lorraine Adkins, one of the program's founders. It took 35 pickup trucks to haul the wreaths to the cemetery.
"On the second Saturday of December all the National Cemeteries participate in putting wreaths on graves," Adkins said. "There are only three in Missouri and we are lucky to have one of them."
She added the first person buried in the cemetery was in 1861, before President Lincoln declared it a National Cemetery.
Adkins is also a participant in an organization called Operation Bugle Boy, which serves a Thanksgiving-style dinner to more than 700 veterans every year since 9/11.
The group who helped honor the veterans was treated to breakfast casserole and biscuits and gravy at Prison Brews after the event. Adkins spoke with a soft voice when she thanked all who were involved, from the veterans to the wreath layers.
Meanwhile, just up the street, a team of men in Revolutionary War period-piece costumes honored two more veterans. The historically-dressed figures are members of the Christopher Casey chapter of the Missouri Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (MOSSAR).
They placed wreaths on the graves of Casey and John Gordon, both veterans of the American Revolution, said Earnie Mowry, president of the Christopher Casey chapter of MOSSAR. Gordon also is known to have started the Jefferson City Volunteer Fire Department, Mowry said.
"It is one of the most beautiful cemeteries of all the country and when you get those wreaths on it, it is absolutely beautiful," Mowry said. "It is great that all the services, veterans organizations, law enforcement and citizens come to the National Cemetery and recognize the veterans and those that are buried there, that have worked for our country, died for our country and provided for our country."
The group presented honors to the veteran's relatives and then dismissed the small crowd. As the audience was leaving, the sound of motorcycles slowly dissipated as the leather-clad veterans of the audience rode away. Their brightly-colored patches, which mimic their decorations for service, became a blur of hues that mixed with their taillights as they drove away from the cemetery.
Wreaths Across America
Meanwhile, a Wreaths Across America ceremony was held Saturday at Hawthorne Memorial Gardens in Jefferson City.