Volunteers will start putting Christmas wreaths on the graves of veterans across the country this weekend, including those at McDivitt Grove Cemetery in Urbandale. Area veteran Dennis Appelhons asked Wreaths Across America to include McDivitt in the program.
“Because we have over 100 veterans there. And at least one of them dates from the Spanish American War. We have Civil War, World War One, World War Two, Korean War,” Appelhons says. He says it started out as a pioneer cemetery in 1855 and eventually became a family cemetery
as the city grew up around it. Applehons was part of an Army Air Defense Artillery unit stationed in Korea, and at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
He says the 112 wreaths that will be placed on the graves of veterans in Urbandale have a significant meaning to him. “Recognition and remembrance that what all veterans did not go unnoticed or unhonored,” he says. Applehons says he got the idea after most the V-F-W group and Legion group participated in Wreaths Across America at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery and Van Meter.
He says it is something unique. “The typical Memorial Day and Veterans Day, decorations and flags would be the only two events that we see flags in recognition of those veterans,” Applehons says. “And in the middle of a winter, especially here in Iowa, to drive by and see those wreaths on those headstones, it’s quite moving.” You may’ve seen the pictures of the wreaths on rows and rows of white tombstones in large military cemeteries. He says the sight is a little different in the Urbandale cemetery because there are all types of headstones and markers on the graves.
“The one common thing about all of the veteran’s graves is the veteran medallion on a steel post sitting next to their headstone. What you’ll see is the wreath with a red ribbon, either propped against the headstone, or the veteran medallion that is in the ground next to it,” he explains. Applehons says donations paid for the wreaths that will be placed Saturday. He says you can donate to help the program by going online to the Wreaths Across America website. “It’s a fairly self explanatory procedure. You will click on ‘sponsor a wreath,’ and once you’re on that page, it’ll guide you to basic information on the cost of a wreath how many you can buy, how to pay for them. And you have to designate what cemetery you want that wreath for,” he says.
Applehons says their cemetery has been assigned ID number IA0062 and they pass out flyers or send email reminders to people in the community for donations that go to their effort. The wreath laying begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and everyone is invited to come and help out.