Veterans buried in 10 cemeteries in Hempfield, Irwin, North Huntingdon and Penn Township will be honored Saturday with wreaths on their graves as part of a national program.

Volunteers with the North Huntingdon Chapter of Wreaths Across America will lay 2,880 wreaths on the graves of veterans buried in Union Cemetery in Irwin and Long Run, Immaculate Conception, Penn Lincoln Memorial Park and the Brush Creek Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church cemeteries in North Huntingdon, said Wendy Waugh, chapter director.

Through fundraisers, business sponsorships and donations, the group was able to raise $43,200 to purchase the $15 wreaths.

“The group struggled to bounce back from pandemic restrictions but was able to meet the goal in its entirety again,” Waugh said.

More than a dozen people helped to unload a tractor-trailer full of boxed wreaths at Union Cemetery on Wednesday. The 321 boxes each weighed 36 pounds.

The wreaths from the nonprofit’s headquarters in Columbia Falls, Maine, will be distributed to the various cemeteries for placement Saturday. Wreaths are placed on veterans’ graves at 3,400 locations across the country, according to the organization’s website.

Among those volunteers were Joyce Swerock and Denise Smith, both of North Huntingdon.

Swerock said she was helping in honor of her son. Smith said she volunteered in honor of her father, the late Albert Myslieiec, a Korean War veteran.

The wreaths will be laid at the gravesites following ceremonies at noon Saturday at Union Cemetery along Pennsylvania Avenue, Irwin. A wreath will be placed for all branches of the service by active or retired service men and women. A wreath for Gold Star families will be placed by Marlyn Shipley of North Huntingdon.

There will be a military honor guard from the J. Howard Snyder Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 781 of North Huntingdon participating in the ceremonies.

Wreaths will be on veterans’ graves until winter breaks, in late February or early March, Waugh said.

Jeannette ceremonies

The Jeannette Chapter of Wreaths Across America has raised enough money to buy 1,800 wreaths for graves at Jeannette Memorial Park, Jeannette Catholic Cemetery and Saints Cyril and Methodius Cemetery, all in Penn Township; and Sacred Heart, St. Boniface and St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox cemeteries, all in Hempfield, said Frank Drury, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8240.

It is the third year for the Jeannette group’s involvement in Wreaths Across America, Drury said. They started out honoring veterans at two cemeteries and expanded it last year.

“The people and the businesses of Jeannette showed up for this. The people of Jeannette are unbelievable,” Drury said.

Ceremonies are planned at noon Saturday at Jeannette Memorial Park along Altman Road. An honor guard consisting of members of the Jeannette American Legion Post 344 and Jeannette VFW Post 8240 will participate in the ceremonies, along with Boy Scouts and the American Heritage Girls.

“We want the kids to know the tradition of honoring veterans,” Drury said.

Both Waugh and Drury said they would welcome volunteers Saturday to place the wreaths at the veterans’ gravesites.

“We do have an older group of volunteers,” Waugh noted.

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