Masonic Cemetery hosts Wreaths Across America event

Chloe Shaver

Writer

The Fallbrook Masonic Cemetery is hosting an event to remember the lives of all veterans laid to rest there at the cemetery as well as the Odd Fellows Cemetery on Alturas Road. The event will start at 9 a.m. on Dec. 18, so guests are asked to come early. Everyone is welcome, and visitors are asked to park outside the cemetery. Wreaths will be laid after the ceremony concludes.

Wreaths Across America is a nationwide organization dedicated to ensuring all veterans’ graves are honored yearly with wreaths. American Heritage Girls Troop 3125, as well as Trail Life Troop 112 and the Monserate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, coordinate and run the event. The groups, led predominantly by the American Heritage Girls, manage setting up for the event, fundraising for wreaths and ensuring that the goals are met.

This Wreaths Across America event has been hosted at the Masonic Cemetery for five years, and the wreath goal has been met every year. For the last two years, however, the number of wreaths required has increased. As the Masonic Cemetery checks records, more veterans’ graves have been found, previously unmarked. These newfound graves, as well as the ones in the old Odd Fellows cemetery, lead to an increased amount of support needed to honor these fallen veterans.

Currently, there are 435 of the 600 wreaths needed for the graves. Each wreath costs $15, and the ceremony at the Masonic Cemetery will place the wreaths on each veteran’s grave. Donations can be made at https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/.