121821 WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA HOUSTON VA CEMETERY

At 7:15 a.m. Saturday several hundred motorcycles from Patriot Guard and Combat Veterans left Valley Ranch Center in New Caney being escorted by DPS, MCSO, HPD, and Montgomery County Precinct 4 Constables Office heading to the Houston National Cemetery in Houston. The Mission was Wreaths Across America. Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and thanking our veterans for their service and sacrifice. The Wreaths Across America mission is "Remember, Honor, and Teach." The annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery started in 1992 is now performed around the country. The Wreaths Across America-Houston ceremony started in 2007 and is held at Houston National Cemetery every December. All wreath-laying ceremonies are held at the same time as Arlington.
The six-year-old son of the Houston Wreaths Across Director Scott deMasi was looking at a video about the Arlington wreath-laying and wondering why there wasn't one here in Houston at the Houston National Cemetery. They went online and placed the order for wreaths. They called the cemetery to see when they would lay the wreaths. They then found out that the Houston National Cemetery did not participate in the wreath-laying part of the event, due to a lack of funding and volunteers. With the help of the Civil Air Patrol, the cemetery was having a ceremony presenting the seven wreaths (each representing one of the branches of service and the MIA/POW’s) as all other National Cemeteries do. His son, perplexed by this claimed “that’s not fair” and later in the day simply asked, “What can one person do?” This was the spark that started what is now an annual event for not only one boy, now a 21-year-old college student and his dad, but also family, friends, and an entire community. "Honor One and you Honor All" - this is a great sentiment, but for Wreaths Across America-Houston this just isn't enough. This year 47,000 wreaths were purchased with donations from companies, groups, and individuals. The wreaths were placed today by volunteers. There were so many volunteers that Greenspoint Mall was utilized as a parking area and Metro busses were used to transport them to Houston National. Many Veterans participated along with groups such as Bellaire High School Army ROTC and Kingwood High School ROTC. deMasi said it would only take a few hours to place the wreaths on the massive 420-acre cemetery. His hope was to raise enough to do all of the 125,000 internments. People can start early for next year. To sponsor a wreath you can go to the website www.waahouston.com. One the wreath is $15.