Galveston Daily News Dec. 17,2017


Wreath ceremony

KELSEY WALLING / The Daily News   Dec 16, 2017


Dozens of people on Saturday scattered across Lakeview Cemetery, wreaths in hand and in search of veterans who had been laid to rest.


They then placed the wreaths on veterans’ tombstones and uttered their names aloud, keeping the service members in memory. Veterans die twice — when they take their last breath and when their name is uttered for the final time, said Andrew Farrant, who planned the local event.

“We want to extend that for our veterans,” Farrant said. “It’s a small act we can do.”

Lakeview Cemetery, 3015 57th St., became one of the newest locations this year to participate in National Wreaths Across America Day, an event celebrated annually across the United States to recognize and honor veterans and teach future generations about the cost of their freedom.

More than 12,000 other places participate across the country, according to the organization.

Farrant, 13, an eighth-grader from Houston, organized the event and helped raise more than $1,700 to place 115 wreaths on veterans’ tombstones.

Farrant said he decided to hold his own Wreaths Across America event after he placed a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on a school trip last year. Although he doesn’t live in Galveston, Farrant’s family often visits the island, he said.

Susan Rogers, a League City resident, said she thought the event was special because Farrant had planned it.

“I think the most significant thing about today for me was that a young person felt so strongly about the veterans that he organized this,” Rogers said.

Kelly Teichman, a Galveston resident, was one of the dozens at the event. She placed a wreath on the grave of her father, Sgt. Rudy Teichman, who served in the Army and was drafted during the Korean War.

“It’s a touching thing,” Teichman said.

Wilford Craig, who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, participated in a ceremony to place wreaths in honor of the five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as the U.S. Merchant Marines, prisoners of war and people who went missing in action.

In the ceremony, Craig said he remembered his fellow service members who have died. Many men in his crew died in the war, he said.

“It was 10 of us on the plane,” Craig said. “I’m the only one that’s left.”

Farrant aims to raise more money in future years so he can place more wreaths at the cemetery, he said. Doing so is just one way to honor those who have stood up for freedom, justice and equality, he said.

“The freedoms we enjoy today have not come without a price,” Farrant said. “Lying here before us in cemeteries throughout this nation are men and women who gave their lives so that we can live in freedom and without fear.”