National Wreaths Across America Day took place December 16 at over 4,225 participating locations across the country, including Arlington National Cemetery. Volunteers remember this country’s heroes as they say the names of the fallen aloud while placing evergreen wreaths at their graves.

Firefighters from two local companies were staged on I-84 overpasses when the group and its escort of Maine and Connecticut state troopers traveled through town two weeks ago.

The Wreaths Across America (WAA) group left its home in Harrington, Maine, on December 10, traveling to Portland for its first overnight stop. WAA presents up to three events each day along its route, and arrived in Maryland on December 14. It moved the following morning to Washington, D.C., where wreath-laying ceremonies were held at four monuments.

A few days earlier, however, the WAA group arrived in Southbury, where a morning event was held at Veteran’s Park. By midday December 12 the convoy was back on the road, heading toward Elmsford, N.Y.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Engineer Scott Allen and Firefighter Enzo Knapp had their company’s ladder truck set up on the Philo Curtis Road overpass, a large American flag waving in the wind, by late morning.

About three miles west, firefighters from Newtown Hook & Ladder Company were on the Currituck Road overpass, their company’s ladder truck extended and a large American flag also ready to welcome the WAA group as it traveled along I-84 West.

Hook & Ladder Chief Ray Corbo was joined by Assistant Chief Jason Shuttleworth, Lieutenant Brian Sharnick, and Firefighter Rachael Gindraux for the public service.

Eleven full-size tractor trailer trucks were part of the convoy, as were state trooper vehicles and motorcycles, multiple SUVs, and one full size coach bus. It took four minutes for the group to pass Hook & Ladder’s location.

National Wreaths Across America Day then took place Saturday, December 16, when wreath laying took place at Arlington National Cemetery. According to Stars and Stripes, more than 30,000 volunteers placed approximately 260,000 wreaths at every gravesite and niche column. The event culminated in a noon placement at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In Connecticut, the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs conducted its Annual Wreaths Across America Ceremony at the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.

Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2007 to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine wreath maker Morrill Worcester in 1992.

The organization’s yearlong mission — Remember the fallen, Honor those that serve, Teach the next generation the value of freedom — is carried out, in part, each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at thousands of participating locations in all 50 states and beyond.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.