Volunteers needed to place wreaths at Fallon cemetery

The annual Wreaths Across America ceremony is not only a yearly event to remember veterans who served in the military, but it is also a labor of love for different communities to raise money so wreaths can be placed on every gravesite.

The Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery is no exception.

Every year, the Nevada Veterans Coalition fundraises thousands of dollars so a wreath can be placed at more than 8,000 gravesites at the sprawling cemetery 35 miles east of Reno and 30 miles west of Fallon.

This year’s ceremony begins at 9 a.m. Saturday to coincide with the national remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. The Wreaths Across America organization based in Maine says the National Wreaths Across America day culminated “a yearlong mission to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach the next generation the value of freedom.”

Wreaths Across America at the Churchill County Cemetery begins at noon to allow Fernley participants to attend the event. Volunteers are needed and are encouraged to show up at noon for the program followed by the wreath laying. About 1,300 veterans are interred at the county cemetery and more at the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe’s cemetery and The Gardens Funeral Home on the Reno Highway.

According to Nancy Rifkin, outreach event coordinator for the NNVMC ceremony, a new procedure has been initiated for Saturday.

“At 8:30 a.m. those individuals who wish to place a wreath on their loved one’s gravesite will be allowed to do so in advance of the 9 a.m. start time for the general public,” she said. “In previous years these gravesites were flagged and an announcement was made to everyone not to place a wreath on those graves and everyone placed wreaths together at 9 a.m. Due to staff and volunteer shortages the advance flag placement cannot be done this year.”

Rifkin said donations to Wreaths Across America are still being accepted for the NNVMC on its website NNVC.org. In addition, she said donations of refreshments for Saturday are appreciated.

In addition to the cemeteries in Northern Nevada, 3,100 other participating cemeteries and volunteers across the United States and overseas also remember the country’s fallen heroes. Volunteers will also place wreaths at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

According to the NVC, the state military cemetery in Fernley inters up to 400 veterans who have died during the calendar year. That figure also includes the unaccompanied veterans’ services conducted once a month. Prior the coronavirus pandemic, the NVC estimated about 3,000 visitors attended the Wreaths Across America ceremony, which is conducted on the third Saturday of December.

The Wreaths Across America, which attracts just as many visitors and volunteers as Memorial Day, was founded in 2007, and the NNVMC signed on to represent the deceased veterans that same year. When the NVC became involved with Wreaths Across America, the coalition’s goal was to provide a wreath for every veteran. That year, the NVC said volunteers placed 28 wreaths, but after that inaugural year, donations have increased steadily.

This year’s theme of “Find a Way to Serve” describes the hundreds of volunteers who donate their time at the cemeteries. Volunteers from Naval Air Station Fallon, the Nevada National Guard, U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps and the Civil Air Patrol normally assist the NVC during their ceremony and with the placement of wreaths. A cadet from one of the two youth groups accompanies a veteran from a specific branch of service that’s being recognized, and then helps with the placement of a remembrance wreath at a medallion near the pavilion.

Wreaths Across America reminds the nation of their sacrifices during both peacetime and at war. During one such ceremony before the pandemic, retired sailor Jonathan Burnett, who assists the NVC with their monthly unaccompanied ceremonies by ringing a bell for each deceased veteran, stood at one of the columbarium’s memorial markers several years ago for a World War II veteran who was at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7. Francis “Frank” Minervini, who was born in 1912, enlisted in the Navy when he was 17 years old and was shy of his 30th birthday when Japanese planes bombed the huge Navy base and airfields on Oahu.

Burnett said he remembers Minervini’s life and how, later in the war in 1944, the World War II sailor was on a torpedoed ship and spent two days floating in the Pacific Ocean with a shattered knee before he was rescued. The 103-year-old Minervini, who attended the 100th anniversary of the USS Nevada’s launch into service in March 2016, died later that year.

In addition to following the annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance which was held last week, this year’s wreath-laying ceremony also coincides with the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge on Dec. 16, 1944, when the German army launched a counteroffensive against the Allied forces to divide the enemy. The assault lasted six weeks until Jan. 25, 1945, in the Ardennes region of northwest Belgium.

According to the “Legacies of the Silver State: Nevada Goes to War,” “The numbing winter cold snow and wind pulsating across western Europe in late 1944 slowed troops down in Belgium as the Allies faced both the elements of weather and Germans.

“Christmas Day 1944: Army Sgt. Luther Gordon and his fellow infantrymen hunkered down defensively along the Outhe River to prevent the German troops and their equipment from crossing a bridge

“The Battle of the Bulge in which Gordon fought became the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. That two-month battle resulted in the Allies defeating the Germans, a prelude that Adolph Hitler’s military ranks were thinning and that overall defeat looked inevitable.

“During the battle, a German sniper shot Gordon in the left arm, but he continued to return fire until he depleted his ammunition. Undaunted by his lack of ammo, Gordon raced to a captured German machine gun position that had been captured earlier, grasped the weapon and began to return deadly fire again until reinforcements arrived.

“The second time Gordon suffered a bullet wound came in May 1945, sadly on the same day his brother was killed and who is buried in the 10th Mountain Division Cemetery in Italy.

“Gordon received two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star, quite the heroism from a man the Army drafted after he tried to enlist in the Marines.”

Gordon’s granddaughter Jaymi Bryant assisted in writing a narrative of Gordon’s service. The Army veteran died at the age of 93 on Jan. 1, 2018, at an assisted living and memory care center in Fallon. He is buried at the East Line Cemetery in Bishop, Calif.

2021 RECAP

• 2.4 million veterans’ wreaths were placed in total across the country.

• More than two million volunteers participated at 3,137 locations nationwide. More than a third of the volunteers were children.

• At Arlington National Cemetery specifically, the Wreaths Across America program saw 66 tractor trailers deliver over 250,000 veterans’ wreaths that were placed by nearly 38,000 volunteers.

• Over 525 truckloads of wreaths were delivered across the country by hundreds of volunteer professional truck drivers driving donated equipment and fuel from approximately 390 carriers.

• 2022 Theme: Find a Way to Serve

Source: Wreaths Across America