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Thousands upon thousands of veterans’ headstones across the United States will have wreaths placed on them on December 14 to honor them and to keep their sacrifices fresh in the minds of all who see.

“For me, to see the American people — what they can do when they all come together — there’s so much volunteerism here and love of our military, and there’s also a great understanding. Our mission is to remember the fallen, and honor of those that serve, and teach the next generation the cost and value of freedom. And the ‘teach’ piece, to me, is what really hits home. It’s grown into an amazing thing,” Wreaths Across America Executive Director Karen Worcester said on Friday in an appearance on Breitbart News Daily. 

The tribute is one that has occurred annually for roughly 30 years, starting quietly with the Worcester family and their business, Worcester Wreath, in 1992. Worcester Wreath had extra wreaths at the end of the holiday season that year and ended up partnering with a trucking company and volunteers to decorate graves at Arlington National Cemetery with 5,000 wreaths.

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“A volunteer trucker friend helped us load them up, and we went down. It impacted my kids, who went with my husband, so much. It was such a personal experience,” Worcester recalled, describing how they laid wreathes on the graves as they paid tribute to the veterans by reading their names aloud.

“These are people — these aren’t just row after row of stones,” she added. “And we literally did that up until 2005, so that’s a good stretch. A Pentagon photographer actually took a picture and put it on their website and it went viral. And by January of 2006, we were just inundated. So in 2006, we donated the wreaths, but the amount of attention was crazy.” 

The sudden boom and thousands of requests across the nation ultimately led to the creation of Wreaths Across America in 2007, a nonprofit with the mission: “Remember. Honor. Teach.” The organization has gone on to have thousands of participating locations across the United States who have laid hundreds of thousands of wreaths on the graves of our nation’s heroes. 

“[Wreaths Across America] literally was founded on the suggestion of veterans, Gold Star families, people who were telling us, ‘Please, we need to do this,’” she said. “…This year, we have 4,908 locations all over the country. We even do some overseas… We are looking for about 4 million people to come out and place wreathes on Dec. 14. It’s unbelievable.” 

Wreaths Across America will start its annual “Escort to Arlington” on Saturday, Dec. 7 , and will travel down the east coast before arriving at Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 14 for National Wreaths Across America Day. On that day, ceremonies honoring those who served will take place at nearly 5,000 locations nationwide. The organization is still taking sponsors and volunteers.

“It’s very humbling. Because I, as a mother of six and a grandmother of nine, I now have Gold Star moms who are my dear, dear friends who are my age, some younger, whose children are buried in these cemeteries. It’s a responsibility now,” she said. 

“One of the most important things we do is tell the stories of those men and women who served, and tell what made them step up, and to teach our children what’s so wonderful about freedom that, should they be the next generation called, that they value freedom enough to step up,” she continued. 

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.