The story of Wreaths in chattanooga
(Reverse Timeline)
2023 The Wreaths Across Chattanooga Committee held it’s elections in March and, in doing so, saw the departure of Mickey McCamish as a board member. We were all appreciative of his efforts to raise awareness of our goals during his two terms as President. Linda Mines was elected the new President and Maj. Marty Nix, Civil Air Patrol, remained Vice President. Committee Chairs remained in place and the new board set off to achieve the annual goal of Honoring Every Veteran at Chattanooga National Cemetery with a wreath in December. For the second year in a row, Wreaths Across Chattanooga was recognized by Wreaths Across America as the NUMBER ONE wreath fundraising group in the nation! UPDATE: Unfortunately, mid-year, a few members decided to no longer support “Wreaths Across America” and formed another committee. As a result, this committee shifted again, and is now called Wreaths Across America, Chattanooga. The core members who started the committee in 2018 and first turned it into a community event have remained and will continue the Wreaths Across America movement. This year, through the support of Wreaths Across America, the community was able to place an 28,008 wreaths on Wreath Day! Along with the wreaths placed prior to Wreath Day, 2023 marks the first year that EVERY ONE OF THE 49,000 VETERAN’S WERE HONORED WITH A WREATH!
2022 The Wreaths Across Chattanooga Committee received 501 (c)(3) status (tax ID 844641743). The composition of the board changed slightly with Capt. Mickey McCamish, U. S. Navy (retired), maintaining the roll of President, and Maj. Marty Nix, Civil Air Patrol, accepting the roll of Vice President. Eleven (11) Committees were formed, with each Chair being a member of the board. With the team of dedicated volunteers, they worked together to achieve the annual goal of Honoring Every Veteran at Chattanooga National Cemetery with a wreath in December. In June of 2022 Wreaths Across Chattanooga was recognized by Wreaths Across America as the NUMBER ONE wreath fundraising group in the nation in 2021! The committee coordinated the honoring of 30, 742 veterans
2019-21 Capt. Mickey McCamish, U. S. Navy (retired), who is well known for his many years serving on "Friends of the Festival", and Fran Barker, serving as Family Assistance Specialist for the National Guard Family Assistance Center, accepted the roles as Location Coordinators for the 2019 and 2020 Chattanooga Events. With them a team of dedicated volunteers worked together to achieve the annual goal; To place a wreath on the headstone of every veteran buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery. Veterans groups like Disabled American Veterans, Daughters of the American Revolution, The Chattanooga Patriot Guard Riders, and businesses including the Surf's Up Car Wash raised funds and held events to help us raise support. By 2021 just over 25,000 heroes were honored with a wreath in December.
2018 Under the inspiration and guidance of Maj. Marty Nix, Civil Air Patrol, who would act as the Location Leader, the planning and leadership of the program was expanded, and a broader range of community leaders and representatives of a number of the area veteran organizations led the charge to expand the program and seek more sponsorships. This leadership group realized that reaching the 45,000 wreaths goal would require resources far in excess of previous years. In cooperation with the Civil Air Patrol, the Chattanooga Patriot Guard Riders, and other veteran’s associations in the area, the group reached out to community leaders, the local media, and corporate groups to get closer to the ultimate goal. By the end of 2018, the Chattanooga community had raised support for nearly 10,000 wreaths, without any sponsorship from outside the local area
2015 - 2017 CAP member, 2nd Lt. Austen Roberts took the reigns, and in 2016, due to a major contribution from an event sponsored by the Chattanooga Patriot Guard Riders that was spawned from the tragedy of the Fallen 5, Wreaths Across America saw the increase in community involvement and donated additional wreaths to support our efforts, allowing us to place 6,400 wreaths. In 2017, the efforts of the Chattanooga community and another donation from Wreaths Across America provided for 9800 wreaths. A week later we received an additional 12,000 wreaths from Wreaths Across America and therefore were able to honor approximately 45% of the heroes at the cemetery. This is still far short of being able to honor every veteran at Chattanooga National Cemetery each year, which would have required about 43,000 wreaths at that time.
2011 - 2014 Continuing after Maj. Broach’s years of leadership, two other Civil Air Patrol members served as Wreaths Across America Location Coordinators for Chattanooga from 2011 through 2014, and awareness increased, but wreath placement remained steady at 800-1,400 wreaths per year.
2006 - 2010 The Arlington Wreath Project (now W.A.A.) encouraged an alliance with Civil Air Patrol (the official U. S. Air Force Auxiliary) to organize wreath-laying ceremonies to be held at National Cemeteries and Memorial sites across the United States. In December, 2006, the first wreath laying ceremony was held at Chattanooga National Cemetery, under the leadership of Maj. Ron Broach, who was then serving as Civil Air Patrol’s Chattanooga Composite Squadron Commander at the time. Under Broach’s leadership, ceremonies were held every December (usually on the 3rd Saturday of the month). In the early years, under 100-200 wreaths were sponsored each year, but over the program’s first decade, though increased awareness and participation of dozens of other volunteer organizations, the average placement increased up to approximately 1,000 – 1,400 wreaths.
