On Dec. 16 starting at 9 a.m., volunteers from the Girl Scouts, the VFW Post 4108, American Legion Post 44, and other community members placed 1,000 wreaths on veterans graves at Redmond Memorial Cemetery. The event was part of the national Wreaths Across America Day. 

A chilly wind blew on the morning of Dec. 16 at Redmond Memorial Cemetery as dozens of Girl Scouts, members of the VFW Post 4108, American Legion Post 44, and other community members fanned out and placed 1,000 wreaths on the graves of veterans.

The event was part of the national Wreaths Across America Day which honors veterans by placing wreaths on their graves and saying their names to help keep their memories alive and acknowledge their sacrifice for the country. Fortunately for dozens of bundled volunteers, the hot chocolate and coffee, courtesy of Dutch Bros. Coffee, helped keep them warm as they honored the dead.

The graves of veterans at the cemetery span centuries and while many are veterans of World War II, there are also those who fought as far back as the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.

Sarah Brock of Redmond is a Girl Scout leader who helped start the annual tradition in Redmond in 2015. A U.S. Navy veteran herself, Brock understands the importance of honoring those who fought and those who fell in defense of the nation.

“It is not so much just honoring the veterans. They get forgotten if you don’t remember to come out here and honor them. And not everybody has family. That lineage may have passed away,” Brock said. “So, we come out here every year and we are remembering them, because the minute we stop remembering them, they die. They die twice. They die in physical body. And they will die when people stop saying their name.”

Brock, who lost her father, an Air Force veteran, in October, said she wants to teach the next generation to continue the tradition. She said this Christmas holiday, people will see the wreathes and be reminded of who fought and sacrificed.

“For the Christmas season they will have something out here to signify that they were out here and they are being remembered,” Brock said. “For me it is significant. I want my youth to remember we are out here and we served. And I would be happy if somebody did this for me when it is my turn.”

Elizabeth Brock, 19, is Sarah Brock’s daughter, and she spent the morning putting down wreaths with her mother. Elizabeth Brock said she gets why the wreaths are important.

“Growing up with two military parents, I know what it’s like to be from a military family, and so I think it is important to try to remember them,” Brock said. “I think it’s important because once they are gone they still served a purpose and so it is important to remember them and put their name back out there so they are not forgotten.”

Brock said she had already put down about 20 or 30 wreaths and said she saw a quote on a wreath box that struck her about how people die a second time when they are forgotten, and nobody speaks their name.

“I really like that quote because I think it is so important to keep their legacy living,” Brock said. “You want to remember what they did. How they helped this country. And so I think that is important to keep the message alive, which is thanks to these people we are here today.”

Deeper into the cemetery where older graves are located, Cathryn Nind, 14, of Redmond, and her mother, Julie Nind were busy placing wreaths on graves of veterans, some of whom were born in the 1800s. As she crouched to place a wreath, Cathryn said the veterans name outlaid and thanked them for their service, something she has done nearly every year since 2017.

“I think it is important because a lot of these headstones are tucked away in the back and people don’t really visit them,” Cathryn Nind said. “And by laying the wreaths we recognize that they are buried here and respect them.”

Julie Nind, who is a Girl Scouts troop leader, said she likes to go to the older graves because it is possible the veterans there no longer have living descendants, or that perhaps if they do, their descendants have long forgotten them.

“That’s what interests me, the ones that are much older,” Julie Nind said.