AUSTIN (KXAN) – Volunteers and Wreaths Across America honored fallen veterans on Saturday, with over three thousand wreaths laid on their headstones across the cemetery.
The event took place at the Texas State Cemetery, with hundreds of volunteers gathered to spread 3,300 wreaths on the headstones of veterans.
“I feel like it’s only fair that we show just a part of what they did for us – show them honor for everything they did,” said 14-year-old Remmer Machamer, fundraiser for Wreaths Across America (WAA). He detailed what inspired him to spread holiday joy to those who couldn’t make it home from their military service.
“In 2018, it started when I was with my mother and grandmother at a [WAA] meeting … there had been 300 reefs that were missing,” said Remmer. “That didn’t sit right with me – so I went door to door and started asking for donations … This year, I raised over $6,000 – the cemetery was able to be funded.”
Several gold star families, households with family members who died in combat, attended the wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday, laying wreaths on their family members’ headstones…