December 24, 2022

Submitted by Lion Secretary Robert Hayter

On December 17, 2022 three members from the Lee’s Summit Lions Club met at the Longview Funeral Home & Cemetery and participated in the ceremony and placing the wreath on graves of veteran laid to rest at that cemetery.

Preceding the laying of the wreaths, a ceremony took place inside by laying wreaths on plaques of the eight recognized areas of service.

The first was Terrince Wright representing the US Coast Guard, the other seven plaques for the Army, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, Merchant Marines, Missing in Action and POW were placed by various veterans and friends or relatives of veterans that are buried at that cemetery.

Megan Breedlove, director, was in charge of the Wreaths across America project at the Longview Cemetery.

Wreaths Across America first got its beginning when, in Harrington, Maine on December of 1992, wreath maker Morrill Worcester found himself with a surplus of 5,000 fresh wreaths during the holiday season. Worcester saw the surplus as an opportunity to pay tribute to our country’s veterans and with the help of Maine Senator Olympia Snowe arranged for the wreaths to be placed at the Arlington National Cemetery. Since then a foundation was formed and now all over America on this date, at the same time millions of wreaths are laid on graves to honor the courage and sacrifice our military veterans and their families did. These veterans should never be forgotten.

Longview is one of the two cemeteries in Lee’s Summit that participates in this particular tribute. There are 540 Veterans buried at this location and this year Megan had 540 wreaths to cover all of the graves. The cost of each wreath was $15 which is paid to the foundation and they delivered them fresh, to each location across America, to be laid by the cemetery volunteers. The American Legion Post 189 was the largest contributor with over $3,000.