MOUNT VERNON — Remember, honor and teach — this is mantra for Wreaths Across America and it was exemplified by Mount Vernon’s Civil Air Patrol unit on Dec. 13.
Just like thousands of others across the country and the world, Chief Master Sergeant Craig Cox said his unit laid wreaths on veterans’ gravesites to “teach the next generation the value of freedom.”
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP), alongside members of The Elks service club, Daughter of the American Revolution and others, laid 276 wreaths amidst cold weather at Mound View Cemetery in Mount Vernon.
For 16 years, Cox taught Air Force Junior ROTC at the Knox County Career Center and eventually found his way to the CAP unit in Newark where he partook in his first WAA ceremony.
“When I joined Civil Air Patrol the unit down there [in Newark], it started sponsoring [Wreaths Across America] at the cemetery down there,” Cox said.
“So, I reached out to [Mound View Cemetery] and said, ‘Hey, how many veterans do you guys have buried in the cemetery down there?'”
The answer? Somewhere around 2,000, Cox said.
Finding that out, Cox said it was easy for him to start a WAA ceremony in Mount Vernon.
But, more importantly, it was needed.
Wreath laying history
When Cox first became a WAA cemetery coordinator, he was teaching JROTC students and was a member of Newark’s CAP unit.
Today, he leads the Mount Vernon CAP unit he recently launched.
“It was just one of those things that I wanted the cadets in Junior ROTC, and now the CAP cadets, to really have an exposure to — remembering veterans,” Cox said.
Some of his previous JROTC students, now adults, even came to lay wreaths this year.
“People forget about them once they’re in the ground, gone and the families aren’t around; unless it’s like Arlington National Cemetery where there’s thousands of people there every day,” Cox said.
He added there is even a Civil War section in Mound View Cemetery — not everyone buried there died during the Civil War, but everyone buried there are veterans.
“For me it was important for the kids to get a feel for that, to look at these and go, ‘Man, these folks all were in the military at one time or another,'” Cox said.
After he retired from teaching JROTC, Cox said WAA ceremonies had stopped.
Yet, with him at the helm of the area’s new CAP unit, Cox said he’s happy to be doing it again.
Community contributions
Cox said The Elks sponsored 140 of the 276 wreaths that the group of about 50 laid, with the Daughter of the American Revolution also sponsoring wreaths.
Aside from the other groups mentioned previously, Cox said other veterans came out to show support and a scout troop from Howard helped out as well.
“The Elks came with hot chocolate and cookies, too,” Cox said. “So after everybody got done freezing, standing out there in the cold and laying the wreaths, we warmed up a little.
“I was pleasantly surprised at the number of folks and families that had the event on their calendar to come out and help.”
Folks held WAA ceremonies in over 5,000 cemeteries across the United States and overseas, according to Cox.
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