GREENVILLE – Richard Grow, a Darke County native and US Navy Vietnam Veteran, has the honor of delivering 6,000 Christmas Wreaths along with his wife Katie to Arlington National Cemetery for Wreaths Across America.
“It is nice to have my wife with me,” said Grow. “She keeps me straight because she does the paperwork while I’m rollin’.”
Over the past six years, Grow, and his wife Katie have donated their time, resources, and semi and paid for all the diesel fuel required for the trips.
“We do it for the veterans, people like my father,” said Grow. “My wife and I support it; it’s our company.”
The delivery to Arlington starts at the Grow farm in Darke County. It then travels 1,150 miles to Columbia Falls, Maine, to pick up 6,000 wreaths. Then, it travels 760 miles to Arlington National Cemetery, followed by a 500-mile trip back to Darke County, for a total of 2,410 miles.
“They have loads set aside for us when we show up, and within an hour, we’re loaded,” Grow shared.
Before leaving, the drivers are taken to a local church for a ceremony, meetings, and supper.
“The grand finale is when the semis are all lined up at the high school,” Grow stated. “We all say our goodbyes, and we’re gone.”
The next stop is Arlington National Cemetery, where up to 50 trucks muster at Interstate Moving and Storage, a partner with trucking companies in the DC area where Grow and all drivers pre-stage in their lot the night before. The caravan of trucks has a police escort to Arlington National Cemetery the following morning, where they and their trucks are searched before entering the National Cemetery.
Classic Carriers of Versailles is also heavily involved in Wreaths Across America, having made deliveries at no charge for the past 12 years.
“We are a member of the Truckload Carriers Association, and that is when TCA partnered with Wreaths Across America,” said Lucas Subler of Classic Carriers. “They asked group members if we would be interested in donating transportation, and we jumped on board and have been doing it ever since. We started with one load with seven to eight drops down in Central Kentucky.”
Classic Carriers are delivering four semi-loads of wreaths this year and are providing the trailer for Richard Grow at no charge, a $500 rental fee he was paying for his first several trips.
“We’re excited to keep it growing,” Subler said. “We encourage people to come out and volunteer their time. It’s something our employees look forward to every year. It’s very special to kneel and say the name of a Veteran when placing a wreath. It may be centuries since someone has visited that gravesite.”
This Christmas season, 3,150 wreaths will be delivered to seven cemeteries across Darke County. The Fort Greene Ville Daughters of the American Revolution, which started the project in 2018, spearheads the delivery.
“The financial support in our community is fantastic,” said DAR’s Debbie Nisonger. “Between classic carriers and Fort Greenville DAR, we’re laying 3,150 wreaths in Darke County alone. That’s a big number.”
On Saturday, December 14th, at Noon, everyone is encouraged to attend the Wreath-Laying ceremony, followed by wreath placement at Greenville’s Union Cemetery.
Wreaths Across America will be at Union Cemetery to Remember and Honor our fallen veterans. They will lay Remembrance Wreaths on the graves of our country’s heroes and say the names of every veteran aloud.
“It all boils down to remembering and not forgetting,” Nisonger concluded.
