By David Fleet
Editor
Holly-On a cold, damp December morning Ortonville VFW Commander Dennis Hoffman announced the name of a veteran at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.
“It’s customary for volunteers who place a wreath on a veteran’s grave to say aloud their name,” said Hoffman.“It keeps the memory of that veteran alive.”
On Dec. 15, Hoffman along with hundreds of volunteers participated in Wreaths Across America Day at Great Lakes National Cemetery.

This year the annual event was responsible for laying nearly 750,000 wreaths on veterans’ graves at 1,200 different locations across the country. The wreaths were purchased by donations and filled five, 40-foot-long Walmart semi trucks when they were delivered to Great Lakes National Cemetery.
“It’s so inspiring to see so many family members out there and to recognize the veterans at the holidays,” said Hoffman.
There are more than 37,000 headstones at Great Lakes National Cemetery. The cemetery averages about 400 funerals per month.
“Despite the wet weather there were 10,000 wreaths laid on the graves of veterans,” said Hoffman, who has participated in the event for the past four years. “For many of the veterans buried here, placing the wreath on the grave is the only visitor they have during the year. Many times the Ortonville VFW has provided an honor guard for a funeral and only one or two family members attend.”
The wreath program to honor fallen veterans began in 1992 after Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company, of Harrington, Maine, found he had extra wreaths just before Christmas. To use the wreaths, Worcester opted to have them placed on graves in an old section of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C.
The event continued and became an annual event at Arlington. Over the next few years other groups helped to raise more money to place a wreaths on graves of the veterans. The event grew nationwide and in 2008, Congress designed the third Saturday of December as “Wreaths Across America” Day.