Christmas Honors wraps with candlelight vigil

The Christmas Honors project that placed 12,000 wreaths at the Fort Smith National Cemetery over the weekend wrapped up the event with a Monday night (Dec. 14) candlelight vigil around the cemetery flagpole.

Philip Merry, president of Bowen, Miclette, Britt & Merry of Arkansas and lead volunteer on the effort, thanked the crowd for attending on the cold night and thanked all the volunteers and financial supporters of the effort.

“Christmas Honors” was pushed by the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce. According to the chamber, the effort is designed “to help honor the servicemen and women of our community, who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.” The chamber has raised more than $55,000 toward its $60,000 goal to help pay for the wreaths.

Thousands of volunteers turned out Friday (Dec. 11) and Saturday (Dec. 12) to prepare and place the wreaths.

Marvin Mendenhall, a veteran and American Legion member, spoke briefly about how special the cemetery is to military members and their families, and how much they appreciate what area citizens did through Christmas Honors to remember the service of Veterans.

Comments also were made by Cathy Ulrich, Central Presbyterian church pastor, and Gary Campbell, Fort Smith City Director. Members of the Fort Smith Chorale were on hand to sing several songs, including Silent Night as the audience lit candles.

The service ended with Taps played by the Claude Legris, executive director of the Fort Smith Convention & Visitors Bureau, and his son, Justin.