CLAY COUNTY – Three locations across Clay County will participate in Wreaths Across America ceremonies on Saturday to commemorate the lives lost over the years by American military service personnel.

In Clay County, three different locations – Jacksonville Memory Gardens in Orange Park, Keystone Heights Memory Gardens, and Hardage-Giddens Holly Hill Memorial Park in Middleburg – will participate in the ceremonies at noon to honor fallen American veterans.

“It’s personal to me because I feel like, as far as our veterans go in our local locations, the veteran’s cemetery, the national ceremony, they get those honors and rites,” said Jimmy Arthur, a 20-year retired U.S. Army veteran who served as a mortuary specialist and now works with the Hardage-Giddens Holly Hill. “And I feel like in Clay County, in our community, our veterans deserve those same rites as the ones that are in the national cemetery. It’s personal for me because of that fact. We never leave a fallen comrade, and this is extending that same courtesy. We never leave a fallen comrade, no matter where they’re laid to rest.”

While the ceremonies will continue this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they will do so with some changes in order to adhere to medical guidelines.

All people arriving at the Memorial Gardens should remain in their vehicles during the ceremony. They can tune into 94.8 FM on their radios to listen. The specific events will take place to include a moment of silence, speeches and musical selections. Those who would like to place a wreath will turn on their hazard lights to signal volunteers to bring one to their vehicle. Following the ceremony, those wishing to place wreaths will be able to do so but must wear masks and maintain social distancing.

Clay County is very military friendly to those actively serving, veterans, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

The project started when Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, had extra wreaths following the 1992 holiday season and decided to have them placed in a low-traffic area of Arlington National Cemetery. Other volunteers helped in the efforts to get the wreaths to Arlington, and a ceremony was organized at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to lay them.

For years, the ceremony was repeated until 2005, when a picture of the wreaths at Arlington made it onto the internet. That was the beginning of the spread of the tradition which would lead to Wreaths Across America, held each year on the second or third Saturday of December.