For the first time in the history of Wreaths Across America, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office was represented. Deputy Kevin Dennison and Detective Scott Hayden traveled to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia Saturday, Dec. 13 to honor those who have fallen in service to their country.
“It was a quick trip,” Hayden said. “But I’ll never forget it.”
Hayden and Dennison were chosen to attend the ceremony that places wreaths on service members’ graves in Arlington National Cemetery in recognition of their military service.
For over 17 years, Hayden has been an active member of the Air National Guard, achieving the rank of master sergeant.
For eight years, Dennison was a member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He also was a member of the National Guard, completing 20 years of military service before retirement. Dennison completed multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he personally witnessed the ultimate sacrifice service members have made.
“It was a real honor to be a part of (Wreaths Across America), to have been able to honor those that have fallen in that way,” Dennison said. “It is a great program. They’re remembering those that have paid the ultimate price to keep us free.”
Wreaths Across America began in 1992 when Worcester Wreath Company, of Harrington, Maine, had an unexpected surplus of wreaths. Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company, arranged to have the wreaths shipped to Arlington National Cemetery and placed on the graves in one of the cemetery’s older sections that received fewer and fewer visitors each year.
The initiative became a tradition carried on with the help of a growing number of volunteers. In 2005, photos of Worcester’s wreaths on graves in Arlington National Cemetery went viral – thousands of volunteers came forward wanting to join in. The Worcester family, with the help of organizations and volunteers involved since the initiative’s origin, formed the Wreaths Across America nonprofit in 2007.
Wreaths Across America is devoted to remembering, honoring, and teaching youth about the sacrifices service members make to protect their country. In 2010 alone, Wreaths Across America laid 220,000 memorial wreaths at 545 locations in the United States. It also initiated the Thanks a Million campaign that distributes cards for people to send to service members to say thank you.
The annual trip to lay wreaths on graves at Arlington National Cemetery has become one of the largest veterans’ parades in the country. Each year in December, tractor-trailer trucks packed with Maine wreaths are escorted to Arlington National Cemetery by a motorcade of law enforcement officials and the Patriot Guard Riders, a nonprofit group of motorcyclists devoted to providing dignity to fallen military members.
Wreaths Across America’s annual trip began Dec. 7. On Friday, Dec. 12, at 1:30 a.m., Dennison and Hayden traveled to Washington, D.C. with deputies from Sagadahoc and Kennebec counties to participate in Saturday’s ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Both Hayden and Dennison said entering into Arlington National Cemetery was the most memorable and moving moment of the trip. “There are these huge pillars and marble structures when you enter the cemetery,” Hayden said. “Then there are graves as far as you can see. It was pretty emotional seeing that. Me and Kevin were both tearing up.”
“It was a moving moment to see all those graves,” Dennison said in a separate interview. “You really see how much service members have sacrificed and how many gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Hayden and Dennison helped unload trucks of wreaths and pass them out to volunteers who placed them on graves at the cemetery. They also laid wreaths at the Vietnam War Memorial and the World War II Memorial. Dennison performed the color guard ceremony with deputies from the Knox, Sagadahoc, and Kennebec county sheriff’s offices at the Korean War Memorial.
At the Law Enforcement Memorial, Dennison and Hayden found the names of two Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputies killed in the line of duty – Deputy Reuben Blackman, killed in 1933, and Detective Sgt. Donald Davey, killed in 1984. They laid a memorial wreath for them and made etchings of their names.
“All of those names are people that have died,” Hayden said, reflecting on the memorials he visited. “Each name represents a family that’s missing somebody.”
“It meant a lot to the families that we were there doing this,” Dennison said. Lincoln County sending representatives from the sheriff’s office meant a lot to Morrill Worcester as well. According to Hayden, Worcester’s goal for next year’s ceremony was to have every sheriff’s office in Maine send a representative.
