Wreaths Across America ceremony honors fallen veterans

January 2, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

By TIM CLEVELAND

On Dec. 13, members of the Poland Village Samuel K. Hind Fund participated in a ceremony to place wreaths at the headstones of fallen veterans at the old Poland Village Cemetery adjoining the Presbyterian Church, located at 2 Poland Manor.

The ceremony was put on by Wreaths Across America, a national nonprofit organization that placed wreaths at nearly 1,000 locations across the country and overseas that day. The local organization is comprised of members of the OSU Extension Office Master Gardeners. The ceremony was emceed by Hugh Earhart of Wreaths Across America.

“It was a very moving event and concluded with the playing of Taps,” said Dave Smith of the Hind Fund. “Each branch of the armed forces presented a wreath representing fallen service men and women.”

The Poland Village Samuel K. Hine Fund is a committee of five citizens. They oversee the maintenance of the Village Green and Graveyard. Both were donated to the community by Turhand Kirtland, one of the Revolutionary War veterans buried at the Poland Village Cemetery. Smith is also secretary of the Poland Historical Society.

Among the 52 attendees of the ceremony were several descendants of veterans who are buried in the cemetery. They included Franklin Bennett, Becky Bennett and Gwen Guiraud, descendants of Turhand Kirtland; Barry McCombs and several of his relatives are descendants of John and William McCombs.

There are 13 veterans of the Revolutionary War, 13 from the War of 1812 and 10 Civil War veterans buried in the Poland Village Cemetery.