Members of The Colony Club of Ocean City gather at the Gerald M. Thornton Veterans Cemetery prior to the wreath-laying ceremony. (Photos provided by Doug Otto)
For the fifth consecutive year, The Colony Club of Ocean City honored the service of area veterans by placing wreaths on graves at the Gerald M. Thornton Veterans Cemetery of Cape May County.
Each December, the Wreaths Across America organization asks local groups to remember and honor veterans by conducting wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as more than 4,200 additional locations in all 50 states.
“The Colony Club of Ocean City is pleased to again have the opportunity to join a grateful nation and thank our veterans and their families,” said Cathy Solarski, chair of the Colony Club’s Wreaths Across America Committee.
“Our club members, along with members from The Exchange Club of Ocean City and the American Legion Post 524 Auxiliary donated over $2,000 and joined other community members in sponsoring over 1,000 red ribbon-trimmed evergreen wreaths to be placed on graves of veterans from various wars,” Solarski added.
After reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing The Star-Spangled Banner, over a dozen Colony Club members and Legion Auxiliary participants fanned out across the 17.6-acre Cape May County cemetery grounds to salute more than 1,000 interred veterans on Dec. 14.
The wreaths are handcrafted of balsam vines and hand-tied with velvet bows at the Wreaths Across America headquarters in Columbia Falls, Maine, and then shipped to each ceremony location nationwide.
The Colony Club of Ocean City, part of the General Federation and New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs, is a volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and supporting programs and projects that improve the community.
More information about the Colony Club of Ocean City can be found at: https://colonyclubocnj.wordpress.com Meetings are held the third Monday of each month at 6:45 p.m. in Room 111 of the Ocean City Free Public Library, 1735 Simpson Ave., Ocean City.
Handcrafted wreaths are placed on more than 1,000 graves on Wreaths Across America Day 2024.
