A ceremonial wreath placed at the base of the flagpole at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery during Wreaths Across America Day, Dec. 19, 2020. The tall monument with the eagle atop it in the background is the grave of Col. Henry Leavenworth who established “Cantonement Leavenworth” on May 8, 1827.
On Dec. 16, National Wreaths Across America Day, the CGSC Foundation will help honor veterans’ graves at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery with wreaths of remembrance.
The Foundation would like to thank everyone that sponsored wreaths this year and invites you to come out to help place wreaths at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery on Dec. 16. There will be a short ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. and afterward volunteers will be instructed where to begin placing wreaths. (See the WAA Day Admin Information below.)
If you would like to be a part of remembering and honoring our fallen veterans we welcome you. And after we complete our wreath laying mission, the Foundation will host a reception for everyone at the Frontier Army Museum.
Download the invitation flyer with all the details.
Please note: Any wreath sponsorships received after Nov. 30 will be applied towards our 2024 goal.
WAA Day Admin Information for Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery –
- Wreaths Across America at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery welcomes the military supportive public. No REGISTRATION is required.
- Fort Leavenworth has granted “event access” for WAA day participants. – For participants that don’t normally have access to post, upon entering Fort Leavenworth at the corner of Metropolitan Ave. and 7th St. in Leavenworth. Present a valid identification to the security guard (does NOT have to be a military identification card) for everyone 16 years or older in your vehicle. No entry will be approved until after 9 a.m. that morning. Please allow extra time in case it is a busy morning.
- Designated parking for attendees is at Frontier Conference Center, 350 Biddle Blvd., directly east of the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. Please walk across the street and meet at the flag pole. The cemetery is closed to internal parking due to pedestrian traffic.
- The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. at the flag pole.
- Sponsored wreaths will be placed in Section P of the cemetery after the ceremony.
- Children are encouraged to attend. Please follow respectful guidance within a national cemetery.
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 and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
The Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery was established in 1862 as one of 14 national cemeteries at that time. Today the cemetery has more than 23,000 graves of veterans representing every conflict since 1812. Notable veterans buried at Fort Leavenworth include Captain James Allen, 1st U.S. Dragoons, who died in August 1846. Allen’s is the oldest known military grave in the cemetery. Also, the remains of Brigadier General Leavenworth, the fort’s namesake, were disinterred from Woodland Cemetery in Delhi, N.Y., and reinterred in the national cemetery on Memorial Day in 1902. Nine Medal of Honor recipients are also buried there, including Capt. Thomas W. Custer, brother of Lt. Col. George Custer. Thomas received the Medal of Honor twice while serving in the U.S. Army, Company B, 6th Michigan Cavalry; first for capturing the flag at Namozine Church, Virginia, on May 3, 1865, and second for actions at Sailor’s Creek, Virginia, April 1865. Custer died in 1876.
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