MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. – Every December, in all 52 Civil Air Patrol wings and even abroad, thousands of CAP officers and cadets participate in Wreaths Across America observances to honor the nation’s fallen. The event involves CAP members presenting the colors, delivering orations and placing remembrance wreaths at over 1,000 cemeteries and memorials across the country.
Most of the observances will occur Saturday, Dec. 17, which coincides with a Wreaths Across America ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery where organizers expect to cover approximately 220,000 gravesites.
“Civil Air Patrol is honored to place wreaths at Arlington,” said CAP Col. Dan LeClair, former Maine Wing and current Northeast Region commander who is actively involved in Wreaths Across America — CAP’s largest fundraiser. “Wreaths Across America is now a CAP holiday tradition that our members cherish.”
CAP’s first squadron to participate, led by its commander, Lt. Col. Wayne Merritt, went to Arlington to lay wreaths 16 years ago. That effort took the Machais Valley Composite Squadron about four hours. Every year since, as more CAP units and volunteers have participated, the effort has gotten easier — even though the number of wreaths has grown tremendously. Last year, it took a little over an hour to place wreaths on every grave at Arlington.
Merritt is returning to the historic national cemetery on Saturday, bringing a van load of cadets to help once again.
Thousands of service-minded CAP members across America are now tapped into the initiative — selling wreath sponsorships to the public, laying wreaths and conducting ceremonies to mark the day with pomp, circumstance and patriotism.
LeClair and other CAP officers and cadets will join an estimated 40,000 volunteers at Arlington on Dec. 17 for National Wreaths Across America Day. At Arlington and at other U.S. cemeteries and memorial sites around the world, other volunteers — many of them CAP members — will also participate, placing over 1.2 million of the fresh balsam evergreens from Maine on the graves of military veterans as a tribute to their service and sacrifice.
“This program is CAP’s community service project,” said LeClair. “Not only does it honor our veterans during the holiday season, but it also instills an appreciation of the ultimate sacrifice made by members of our military.”
LeClair said the CAP program has experienced tremendous growth, thanks in part to the Quick Start Guide instituted in 2008 when he was vice commander of the Maine Wing. “Today, one-third of our squadrons fund-raise,” he said. “That represents about 400 squadrons. Last year, CAP squadrons raised around $700,000 for their units.”
“Half of our squadrons overall (about 700) are involved in a Wreaths Across America event by helping lay the wreaths, run programs at the cemeteries, etc., and we expect participation to grow this year by about 40 percent,” he added.
Saturday’s observances at Arlington and at other locations nationwide conclude a full week of activities, which started with a wreath exchange with Air Cadet Canada in Calais, Maine, at the international border. There have been 26 events since then, including a wreath-laying at the U.S. Capitol and today at the 9-11 Memorial at the Pentagon.
Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.
