We're all familiar with this picture of Arlington National Cemetary at Christmas.
2006 will mark the 15th anniversary of holiday wreaths being sent from the State of Maine to Arlington National Cemetery.
Each year the folks at Worcester Wreath Company make and decorate wreaths that will adorn over 5000 headstones of our NationÂ’s fallen heroes - in what has become an annual event coordinated with the Cemetery Administration and the Maine State Society.
The Patriot Guard Riders are escorting the wreaths from Maine to Arlington.
You Are Invited... to participate in the wreath-laying ceremony and activities at Arlington National Cemetery, or at any of the locations across the Country on Thursday, December 14th, 2006
A Moment of Silence will be held at ALL locations at Noon EST (sharp).
How can you get involved?
We hope you will be able to join us at Arlington National Cemetery or one of the other participating locations across the Country.
For those not able to attend, please pass the word that there will be a Moment of Silence at Noon EST, where people all across the Nation will stop and share a silent thank you, to all those who serve, to all we've lost, and to their families who will be without loved ones this holidays.
Please Share - Help spread the word!
I've been reading from the Patriot Guard forum, reports of the actual ride -- it's incredible the response.
Here's a sample:The first leg of the mission is done, well done people. I absolutely echo the sentiments of Great Dane.
The wreaths and escort left on schedule this AM, after Highsalute rode her new bike up to the starting point. They came down Rt 1 with a couple of stops along the way. I believe they stopped in Ellsworth and again at Moody's diner in Waldoboro.
I rode up to Wiscasset to meet up with them, we left around 5:00, the sun had already set, around 4:15 I believe. The ride was fairly uneventful, until the police brought the entourage to a complete stop out on the 4-lane portion of Rt 1, the vehicles at the rear had some good practice drill on panic stops.
Then there was a swichback just after Brunswick where the pavement looked very....black...Nobody slipped.
We rolled into Freeport around 6:00 to be greeted by hundreds of folks lining Main Street holding lit candles. As the riders would wave, we could hear the people cheering and yelling over the sound of the bikes. It was great seeing that much support for the cause on a fairly chilly evening, and after dark.
We pulled into the LL Bean Store main entrance to be greeted by a large crowd with more candles. There was a huge outdoor reception with several veteran's groups expressing thanks to Mr Worcester for his wonderful gift, and a few brief comments by Congressman Michaud.
We all then migrated down to a huge tent for a good old Maine "bean suppah" put on by, well....Beans.
Thanks to all the folks who helped today, we have been invited to escort the wreaths again next year.
Tomorrow morning at 6:30...we ride to NH.
State Troopers are guiding and handing off to State Troopers of the next state they are traveling through. You can track their progress here (if you can get it to work! Explorer is the answer)
http://wreaths-across-america.org/peoplenet_directions.html
