It was a morning to ‘Remember, Honor and Teach’ as dozens gathered at the Oakdale Citizens Cemetery for the annual Wreaths Across America program dedicated to placing holiday wreaths on the graves of veterans.
Working cooperatively to put on the event were the Board of Trustees of the Oakdale Citizens Cemetery, Oakdale’s Cub Packs and Scouting America Troops 43 and 365, and Pacific Project Heroes, Inc.
The National Wreaths Across America program was staged on Saturday, Dec. 13, with ceremonies across the country designed to remember the sacrifices of veterans, honor their service and teach the next generation about the value and cost of freedom.
The special ceremony featured an entry by Bagpiper George Harcrow, followed by several members of the Oakdale Lions Club who themselves are veterans. The VFW Post 2922 of Oakdale served as the Honor Guard.
An introduction was offered by Pacific Project Heroes, Inc. President J.R. McCarty and Doug Creekpaum provided the welcome and remarks regarding the program. He served as the Wreaths Location Co-coordinator, along with Oakdale Citizens Cemetery board secretary Melinda Owen.
Presenting the first wreaths, placed around the flagpole at the cemetery, were members representing each branch of service as well as local emergency responders, Gold Star and Blue Star families.
A special wreath placement was conducted by the Lions Club, the memorial wreath put down on the grave of Army veteran and longtime Lions member Erwin Schali, who passed away on Nov. 15 of this year.
Then, a virtual army of volunteers fanned out across the cemetery to place the wreaths; small American flags had been previously placed on the graves of veterans so volunteers found those flags, said the name of the veteran and placed the wreath.
Karen Meyers of Riverbank was among those volunteering on Saturday.
“I went to the Christmas parade in Oakdale, my grandkids live here and my dad was a veteran,” she explained of what prompted her to attend the ceremony and help out on an overcast, blustery morning.
She added that her father, Jesse Ulloa, was born in 1928 in Riverbank and she wanted to honor his service and sacrifice as well as that of other veterans by placing wreaths.
“He lived a nice, great life, 90 years,” Meyers said of her dad.
From young scouts to high school students, community members to veterans, there were many hands to help with the task of placing the wreaths.
Owen said there were roughly 900 wreaths to be placed at the Oakdale Citizens Cemetery and the local program also sent 102 wreaths to Knights Ferry and 10 to Eugene for cemeteries there.
She added that she “has lists” of people that have attended in the past to help and she also seeks to add more volunteers each year, especially getting the younger generation involved. The Dec. 13 event this year went off pretty smoothly, Owen noted, and she was pleased with the crowd that turned out to assist.
“It feels wonderful and we couldn’t do it without the community,” she said.
