FARMINGTON — Four officers from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department will help lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Saturday as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
The four are among 42 officers and 21 cruisers that formed a convoy at 3 a.m. Thursday to travel from Kennebunkport to Washington, D.C., Lt. David Rackliffe said Friday from Washington.
The 42 officers represent 11 of 16 sheriff’s departments across the state.
Making the trek from Franklin County were Cpl. Kevin Hartley, Detective Stephen Charles and his wife, Christi, Deputy Andrew Morgan and Rackliffe. Two department vehicles joined the convoy.
This is the first time the local Sheriff’s Department has participated, Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said. The Maine Sheriff’s Association has participated for several years, but this year it had hoped to get a representative from each county. Maine State Police troopers accompanied convoys a few days ago.
Around noon Friday, the officers were about to lay wreaths at each of the 144 panes of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Rackliffe said. They also planned to lay wreaths at the Korean, World War I and II memorials and at the memorial for law enforcement officers, Rackliffe said.
On Saturday, they will join hundreds of volunteers to place wreaths for each stone at Arlington, he said.
The program started in 1992 when Morrill Worcester of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, had a surplus of wreaths and remembered a trip to Washington he won as a young newspaper carrier, according to the Wreaths Across America website.
The extra wreaths were placed in an older section of Arlington that received few visitors.
“The annual tribute went on quietly for several years, until 2005, when a photo of the stones at Arlington, adorned with wreaths and covered in snow, circulated around the Internet,” according to the website.
Now hundreds of volunteers participate. About 30,000 wreaths are expected to be placed Saturday. This is all done with charitable donations, Rackliffe said.
The officers met with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, after arriving on Thursday, Nichols said.
abryant@sunmediagroup.net
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