It was a cloudy, drizzling day but the hearts and spirits of those who came to honor veterans were merry and bright.
“Over 300 volunteers braved the rain and showed up for the wreath laying,” said Don Vtipil, Chesterfield resident and president of Oldies But Goodies Classic Cruizers car club. “A thousand wreaths were donated and laid.”
The event took place 11 a.m. Dec. 15 at City Point National Cemetery in Hopewell.
The efforts to raise funding for the wreath purchases and recruiting volunteers to place the wreaths began much sooner.
City Point National Cemetery is the final resting place for nearly 6,800 veterans, the majority of whom were Civil War veterans. Located at the junction of the James and Appomattox Rivers, the Hopewell area served as a vital supply depot for the Union’s Richmond-Petersburg campaigns. It was a major hospital center for the region. On display is a large marble monument dedicated to the Army of the James and a superintendent’s lodge built in 1928.
Seven hospitals operated in the area, treating battlefield casualties from some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
The dead from the hospitals were often interred in local cemeteries or hospital burying grounds, but there was a need for a centralized cemetery. In July 1866, the federal government established City Point National Cemetery. Many of the first burials were reinterments from hospital cemeteries and from the Union casualties at Petersburg and Richmond. Other reinterments came from cemeteries in Chesterfield and Charles City counties.
City Point National Cemetery is one of seven national cemeteries in the Richmond area. The others are: Fort Harrison, Glendale, Richmond, Seven Pines, Cold Harbor and Poplar Grove.
Organizations that contributed and or took part in the ceremony are: Oldies But Goodies Classic Cruizers, Inc, Rolling Thunder, Blue Knights, American Legion Post 146, Southern Virginia American Legion Riders 284, Tri-cities Wreath Club, Chesterfield Civil Air Patrol Southside Composite Squadron, Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, American Legion Riders Post 2, Crater Chapter Warrant Officer’s Association and the Sergeants Major Association –Sustainment Chapter, Fort Lee.
This is the seventh year Oldies But Goodies Classic Cruizers has taken part in the event.
For more information wreathsacrossamerica.org or http://www.obgcc.com
