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Participants braved the wet, windy weather Saturday at Rose Hill Cemetery to honor the hundreds of veterans interred there for Wreaths Across America. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD
On a rainy, windy Saturday morning, several dozen volunteers assembled at the flagpole at Rose Hill Cemetery in Kissimmee to say a prayer for and render a military gun salute to the veterans interred there.
After the brief ceremony, the volunteers spread out across Rose Hill to place wreaths on individual veteran graves. As each wreath was placed, the volunteers would read the veteran’s name as it was inscribed on the grave marker. Among the volunteers was a group of Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from Tohopekaliga High School.
“We were initially informed that there were approximately 300 veteran graves in Rose Hill, and after we made a detailed count, it turns out there are over 600,” said Bill Johnson, commander of American Legion Post 10 in Kissimmee, the event’s host and sponsor.
Post 10 is named the Makinson—Carson Post, in honor of two Kissimmee residents who died serving in World War I and are buried at the Rose Hill. The American Legion was formed after WWI to remember those who perished and help the veterans who survived.
Every year on the third Saturday in December, Wreaths Across America provides wreaths to sponsoring organizations and participating cemeteries, to be placed before the Christmas holidays. Wreaths Across America’s mission is to remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach the next generation the value of freedom, according to their website.
Mount Peace Cemetery in St. Cloud has been participating in Wreath Across America for several years, and although this is the first official year for the Rose Hill Cemetery and American Legion Post 10, Post members ordered and placed wreaths last year on as many veterans graves as donations permitted.
For more information on the Wreaths Across America program, see https://bit.ly/3TmzJOO
