Anyone may purchase $15 wreaths to be placed at the December 18th ceremony and all payments must be received by Friday, December 10th. This year, wreaths can either be ordered online via credit card at https://bit.ly/3D0uGbU OR by calling Carmon Community Funeral Homes at 860-688-2200 and paying by check or cash. Checks should be made out to: Carmon Community Funeral Homes and either brought to Carmon Funeral Home at 807 Bloomfield Avenue in Windsor, or mailed to: Carmon Community Funeral Homes, Attn: Wreaths Across America, P.O. Box 6, Windsor CT 06095. In addition, people who wish that a wreath be placed at the grave of a specific veteran in Windsor Veterans Memorial Cemetery must indicate the name of this cemetery and the veteran’s name when the order is submitted, whether it is done online or directly with Carmon Community Funeral Homes. “This year’s annual ceremony in the Windsor Veterans Memorial Cemetery will feature a color guard, a rifle volley and playing of Taps, and readings by members of local clergy and veterans, to be followed by a three-gun salute and the ceremonial laying of wreaths by local Boy Scout Troop 149 and volunteers from Kaman Aerospace Corporation,” explains John C. Carmon, whose father, World War II veteran Frank W. Carmon Jr., founded the firm. “My father received three Purple Hearts and the Distinguished Service Cross, among other decorations, during World War II, and this annual project is a way of remembering him and all U.S. veterans. The Carmon family and staff are pleased to again join Wreaths Across America to honor their lives and their service.” Windsor’s annual Wreaths Across America ceremony program began 12 years ago when the national organization reached out to the Hispanic-American Veterans of Connecticut, Inc. (HAVOCT). Carmon Community Funeral Homes, Windsor American Legion Post #59, and community groups, including local Boy Scouts of America troops, then joined them and the event in the Windsor Veterans Memorial Ceremony has grown larger every year since. Wreaths to be placed on December 18th in Windsor Veterans Memorial Cemetery’s Wreaths Across America ceremony should be ordered and paid for no later than Friday, December 10th. To order on line, go to www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org. To order directly with Carmon Community Funeral Homes, contact Lisa Carmon at 860-688-2200 or LCarmon@carmonfh.com Wreaths Across America, a national nonprofit organization, was founded in 2007 to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery that was started more than 20 years ago by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester. In 1992, Worcester and his company, Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Me., donated the first wreaths, numbering just 5,000, and all were placed at the national cemetery. The Wreaths Across America project has since expanded to include more than 3,000 local fundraising groups in all 50 states, representing more than 2,500 sites including cemeteries, military memorials and other locations, along with the nation’s cemetery in Arlington, Va., and at national veterans’ cemeteries on foreign soil. In 2008, Congress issued a proclamation officially recognizing “Wreaths Across America Day” each December, this year on December 18th. The organization’s mission, Remember, Honor, Teach, is carried out in part by coordinating these numerous wreath-laying ceremonies, and is committed to teaching younger generations about the value of their freedoms and the importance of honoring those who sacrificed so much to protect those freedoms. Carmon Community Funeral Homes is a 75-year-old Windsor-based family-owned firm with nine locations in North Central Connecticut: Avon; Granby; Hartford; Rockville; South Windsor; Suffield; Vernon; and Windsor (two locations), and its own on-site Mount Laurel Crematory. Visit www.CarmonFuneralHome.com or call 860-688-2200. |
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