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Wreaths honoring veterans laid in Marietta

Marietta National Cemetery hosted Wreaths Across America, a holiday wreath-laying ceremony to honor the nation's veterans, on Saturday.

Marietta National Cemetery hosted Wreaths Across America, a holiday wreath-laying ceremony to honor the nation's veterans, on Saturday. WXIA

MARIETTA, Ga -- Marietta National Cemetery hosted Wreaths Across America, a holiday wreath-laying ceremony to honor the nation's veterans, on Saturday.

The Civil Air Patrol, veterans service organizations and others coordinated the event to honor veterans of each branch of the military, the Merchant Marine, prisoners of war and those still missing in action.

The annual event began in 1992 when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, MA, found his company with a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. Remembering a childhood trip to Arlington National Cemetery, Worcester made arrangements for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery that had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year.

Marietta National Cemetery hosted Wreaths Across America, a holiday wreath-laying ceremony to honor the nation's veterans, on Saturday. WXIA

Worcester began sending seven wreaths to every state, one for each branch of the military, and for POW/MIAs. In 2006, with the help of the Civil Air Patrol and other civic organizations, simultaneous wreath-laying ceremonies were held at over 150 locations around the country.

In 2014, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers laid more than 700,000 memorial wreaths at 1,000 locations in the United States and beyond, including ceremonies at the Pearl Harbor Memorial, as well as Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and the sites of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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