Completing the Mission: Volunteers Remove Wreaths Despite the Cold

“We’re here to complete the mission we started in December,” said Chris MacArthur of Alexandria, Virginia, with his arms full of holiday wreaths. MacArthur was one of 2,000 volunteers who braved icy roads and temperatures below 20 degrees to retrieve wreaths from headstones in the snow-covered sections of Arlington National Cemetery on Jan. 11, 2025. When asked if he had second thoughts about coming to the cemetery when he saw the morning snow, he said, “Not for one second.”
The annual Wreaths Out event, in which volunteers remove the 247,000 wreaths laid in December 2024 during Wreaths Across America, draws a smaller crowd than its predecessor event. But those who participate are determined to do the job.
Starting at 8 a.m., well-bundled volunteers passed through the cemetery gates and fanned out into the sections. Some used ropes, hockey sticks or metal poles to gather the snow and ice-covered wreaths. Once loaded up with wreaths, they carried them to dumpsters placed along the roads.
Volunteers included groups, families and individuals. Members of a veteran-led organization removed wreaths in the Section 63 columbarium. Their work proved especially challenging because snowplows had pushed snow against the base of the niche walls, completely covering the wreaths. Ice puddles also covered parts of the columbarium plazas. Former Marine Chris Wells, from Frederick, Maryland, had to dig wreaths out of the snow. “This gives me the feeling that I’m still taking part in something important,” he said, “and it gives me more time to reflect.”
Three former Marines and one currently serving picked up wreaths together in Section 60. “We have some friends that are in this section,” said former Marine Gabriel Ayele. John and Carey Dwyer, both former U.S. Army soldiers, brought their three children. “We wanted to teach the kids that sometimes you just have help out,” said Carey. Former Army Spc. Tazanyia Mouton brought her wife, A.J. “My mother and brother are buried in a VA cemetery in Suffolk, [Virginia],” Mouton said, “and since we can’t make it down there, we came here.”
Many people picking up wreaths had laid them a month earlier. Nate Bell, from Alexandria, Virginia, found that laying wreaths had been a rewarding experience. “Now I’m following up on that original obligation,” he said. Meredith Hutchens, from Arlington, Virginia, retrieved wreaths with her bare hands, having forgotten her gloves. She came back to see her sister-in-law’s grandfather’s headstone and to pick up wreaths. “I wanted to help out a little bit,” she said, “and to see his grave one last time.”
Some people came by themselves. Retired Marine James Norman, from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, picked up wreaths to honor his fellow service members-particularly his father, who was killed in Vietnam and buried in Connecticut. On Wreaths Across America Day, he noted, “there’s thousands of people here, but when we come back today, there’s only a few hundred. So I try to get as many as I can and stay as long as I can.” When asked if the cold bothered him, he smiled and said, “I’m from Connecticut.”
One volunteer, who asked not to be named, said that only his wife and children know that he participates in Wreaths Out every year. “These are the ones who did the effort,” he said as he swept his hand over the headstones in Section 30, “not me.” He also emphasized that fewer people come to the cemetery to remove wreaths than lay them, which drives his determination. “I always come to Wreaths In,” he said, “but I’ll never miss a Wreaths Out.”
(U.S. Army Story by Kevin Hymel / Arlington National Cemetery)
(U.S. Army Video by Daryl Vaca / Arlington National Cemetery)