Circles of evergreens adorned with red bows will decorate the graves of more than 240 veterans buried at the Southwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery this holiday season as part of the Wreaths Across America program.

”The wreaths are to remember the fallen and a symbol of honor to those who have served and their families who endured sacrifices everyday,” Cemetery Director Dwayne Guidry said.

This is the third year the cemetery has participated in the Wreaths Across America program which provides fresh balsam wreaths for veterans graves at more than 3,100 participating memorial sites in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and foreign soil. A similar wreath laying ceremony also took place Saturday at the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Leesville.

“Today over two-and-a-half million wreaths will be placed by more than two million family members and volunteers on veterans headstones,” Cemetery Administrative Assistant Sue Daggett said. “These wreaths will be placed in honor of the service and sacrifices made for our freedoms with each name said out loud.”

Wreath Across America volunteers work round the year to make sure military laid to rest are remembered, their families and living veterans are honored and the next generation is taught about the value of freedom. Daggett said.

Girl Scouts Rebecca Wulf, 14, and Marissa Pinder, 13, both of Crowley did not know anyone buried in the cemetery but volunteered with their group to help place the wreaths at veterans’ headstones.

“I am grateful for the people that have fallen and what they did for their service,” Wulf said. They are the reason we are free, so I want to memorialize that. I am thankful for what all they did for us.

Pinder said the wreaths are a memorial to show how important the people who have served their country are.

The wreath laying was bittersweet for RomaNell Delacroix, of Jennings, who placed the wreath at the gravesite of her late husband’s Paul Delacroix, Jr., with her granddaughter Emilie Dial of Baton Rouge. Delacroix was a World War II veteran.

“It’s wonderful, but sad,” Delacroix said, noting that the wreath laying came almost a year to the date that her husband passed away at age 96.

The event was also emotional for Michael McGee of Lake Charles who placed a wreath on his father, Nathan McGee’s grave. McGee, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam died last year at the age of 78.

“I am very appreciative of the way they recognize the veterans who gave so much to their country,” McGee said.

The wreath ceremony was a first for Moss Bluff resident Angela Langley who placed a wreath on her godfather, Karl Ardoin’s grave. Langley was representing his wife who is in California.

“This is a way of honoring their service,” Langley said. “It is special that they do it all over the United States at the same time. It gives me chills. I am grateful they are doing this for everybody, especially the ones who do not have any family members here to represent them.”

Guest speaker Lt. Col. David Fritts, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s 3-156th Infantry Battalion, said Americans must continue to educate and preserve our democracy.

“We can’t allow those who served to be forgotten,” Fritts said.

Father Keith Pellerin, pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians in Jennings, also urged Americans to continue to bless soldiers and their family members who are buried in the cemetery.