Essex County Veterans Honor 'Wreaths Across America' Tradition For 2025 (PHOTOS)

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Sons of The American Legion Essex County Executive Committee. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The American Legion Family of Essex County, New Jersey – which includes veterans, Sons, and Auxiliary members – participated in Wreaths Across America on the 13th of December. With a focus to “Remember, Honor, and Teach”, Wreaths Across America Day was celebrated by the American Legion Essex County organization at four locations in North Jersey, concluding at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Cemetery in Wrightstown.

“It is why we as Sons of The American Legion (SAL) exist,” notes Rusty Myers of Nutley Post 70, who has coordinated the SAL’s participation for five years. “ We’re here to remember and honor our collective heritage of service to this country – and Wreaths Across America is a perfect way to show our commitment to Americanism.”

It is a humbling day filled with symbolism and emotion. National Wreaths Across America Day took place this year at 5,598 participating locations nationwide. Volunteers placed over 3.1 million sponsored veterans’ wreaths. At Arlington National Cemetery, over 30,000 volunteers helped place wreaths at 265,000 gravesites. The event is held annually on the second weekend of December, where fresh, live wreaths primarily come from the Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, which uses balsam fir from local forests.

That tradition first started in 1992, which grew into a national movement dedicated to honoring our vets while teaching our children about the virtues of being an American.

Since 2020, members from an SAL squadron in Essex County began participating at the ceremonies at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, which is NJ’s largest veteran’s cemetery with over 90,000 burials. Since then, Essex’s participation has widened to include veteran participants, as well as members from the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) and other Sons squadrons from throughout the “Excellent County of Essex.”

This year, participation was coordinated by the new SAL Essex County Executive Committee, a group made up of representatives from Essex’s seven squadrons. This was the first project that the Committee donated to, alongside American Legion Post 70 of Nutley and the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 105 of Belleville. The three groups purchased 38 wreaths, with 34 of them donated directly to Doyle Cemetery.

“To honor and remember our Veterans and the sacrifices they and their families made, is a powerful reminder of why we are afforded the liberties we have,” ALA 105 President Debbie Hall said.

The day began at 7:00am, with wreaths presented at the graves of family and friends at Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield and Holy Cross in North Arlington. After that, the group made their way to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Wayne.

“Wreaths Across America embodies Americanism by honoring service and sacrifice”, noted ALA 105 Vice President Marcy Caruso. “Placing a wreath on my father's grave, and on others as well, made that remembrance deeply personal and meaningful.”

The event at Doyle Cemetery began with a ceremony at noon. 25 wreaths were placed aside for the Essex Legion Family, so that they could be presented at the final resting place of 25 veterans who have a connection to the members and posts of Essex County. That list included uncles who fought on Iwo Jima, and family survived the attacks at Pearl Harbor; a father who is a three-time Combat Infantry Badge recipient and another father who was a Marine in the South Pacific; a recently repatriated sailor killed in action in 1944 at Peleliu from Nutley, along with other family. Other wreaths were placed below the headstones of Legionnaires from around Essex County’s 15-plus posts, showing this was a county effort.

Two brothers, both Sons from the Belleville squadron, attended for the first time and placed a wreath together at their parents grave. Honoring his father Louis’ WWII USMC service, one of those brothers, Paul Rieger, noted that “…Placing wreaths on veterans graves is a small way of acknowledging the sacrifice many of these brave men and women made for us to be able to have this privilege.”

“The wreaths laid today serve as a powerful gesture that unites communities, families, and even generations”, said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America. “It serves as an opportunity to learn about the men and women who served and sacrificed to protect our freedom.”

The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow service members and veterans. Founded in 1932, Sons of The American Legion exists to honor the service and sacrifice of Legionnaires, and is open to all male sons and grandsons of eligible veterans. Completing the Legion Family, in the spirit of Service, Not Self, the mission of the American Legion Auxiliary is to support The American Legion and to honor the sacrifice of those who serve by enhancing the lives of our veterans, military, and their families, both at home and abroad.

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