Wreaths Across Chattanooga

For the 2018 Christmas season, Chattanooga Area military organizations are joining forces with the Civil Air Patrol to ensure that a wreath is placed on each of the 43,000 gravestones at Chattanooga National Cemetery. The placement of these wreaths will take place on Saturday, December 15, 2018, at noon.

In many local discussions, there is a perception that a wreath is placed on every grave marker at Chattanooga National Cemetery but that isn’t the case. In reality, only enough funds or wreaths donated at a national level, cover at most 10,000, of the 43,000 headstones. Since enough wreaths haven’t been received to cover all headstones, the Civil Air Patrol works with Chattanooga National Cemetery to prioritize which section or sections are covered; this means that the remaining sections aren’t honored with a wreath.

The mission of Wreaths Across Chattanooga is to lay a wreath on every gravestone at Chattanooga National and in so doing is to simply

REMEMBER-ALL CHATTANOOGA AREA VETERANS WHO SERVED OUR COUNTRY,

HONOR-THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO SERVED AND MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE and

TEACH-THE VALUE OF FREEDOM AND ABOUT THOSE WHO PROTECTED OUR FREEDOM.

This is an opportunity to connect “The Greatest Generations” with the “Generation of Hope” and an opportunity to honor our Chattanooga Heroes.