ARLINGTON, Va. – This weekend volunteers braved blustery winter weather to place 245,000 Christmas wreaths on tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery.
Roughly 44,000 volunteers showed up for Wreaths Across America's annual wreath-laying ceremony.
The event's opening remarks were canceled due to the weather, but volunteers were asked to take their time and say each name aloud when placing the wreaths.
"To see all these people come together, from all walks of life, with different opinions and politics and religions, in the cold and freezing rain, to join us here and across the country to say thank you to our veterans, proves, we aren't all that different," said Karen Worcester, executive director for Wreaths Across America.
Nationally, the non-profit was able to honor 1.2 million fallen veterans in the same way.
"We are not here to decorate graves. We're here to remember and honor not their deaths, but their lives," said Worcester.
The patriotic tradition began in Harrington, Maine, back in 1992.
Morrill Worcester, a wreath maker, had about 5,000 extra wreaths that year and had the idea to place them on graves at Arlington as a way of thanking fallen heroes.
Worcester and his family did this quietly and privately for many years but eventually the public caught on and volunteers from across the country began sending money and offering to help.
Today wreaths are laid at more than 1,200 state, national and local cemeteries and monuments.
For more information or to sponsor a wreath visit Wreaths Across America.
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