Wreaths Across America Location Coordinator Corey S. King with the Friends of Fort Ontario State Historic Site and fort staff are pleased to announce that the fifth annual National Wreaths Across America (WAA) Day program is scheduled for noon on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Fort Ontario will be one of over 3,400 locations across the world participating in the worldwide event. The ceremony will begin inside the old stone fort and conclude at the Post Cemetery. WAA events are free, non-denominational and open to the public.

Oswego’s WAA program speakers include Oswego Mayor William Barlow Jr., WAA Location Coordinator Corey S. King, Fort Ontario Historic Site Assistant Danielle Funiciello, and special guest speaker Warrant Officer 1 Walker Spradlin, UH60 medivac pilot with the 3 - 10 General Support Aviation Brigade at Fort Drum.

Following the speakers’ presentations, attendees will participate in the “Parade of Wreaths” and escort the remembrance wreaths from the old stone fort to the Post Cemetery.

Every December, thousands of wreaths are escorted from Columbia Falls, Maine to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. for National Wreaths Across America Day by way of volunteer tractor trailer trucks. Along the way, these trucks make dozens of stops including Fort Ontario.

The goal for this organization is to remember the fallen, honor those still serving, and teach younger generations the true value of freedom by laying a remembrance wreath over every veteran’s grave in the country and abroad.

The Fort Ontario Post Cemetery is the final resting place of 77 officers, soldiers and civilians who served at or who were associated with Fort Ontario from the French and Indian War to World War II.

Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – “Remember, Honor, Teach” – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and beyond.

For more information about the Oswego program, contact Corey King at 315-343-4711 or coreyking18@outlook.com. Updates will be posted on the Wreaths Across America Fort Ontario Facebook page (@FortOntarioWAA).

To volunteer, go to: https://wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/155232/Overview/?relatedId=0.