HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — An event to honor veterans in December by laying wreathes on the graves of veterans across America almost didn’t happen in Guam, but on Monday, the decision was made to carry on with the tradition.
Wreaths Across America is a national event celebrated on Dec. 17 with the laying of wreaths on veterans’ burial places to remember and honor the sacrifices they’ve made for freedom. Guam, however, began to celebrate the tradition in 2020. And until Monday, the event had been canceled.
“I just came in on June, right, so coming in, I encountered a lot of things that I need to straighten up down at the Veterans Affairs office and what I wanted to do is situate the office in a way so we could efficiently service the people that we are supposed to be serving, including all the different programs. By mandate, there’s just three programs that is required of me, which is the Veterans Day, All Souls’ Day and Memorial Day. Anything from that we entertain, too, but coming in, it’s kind of a rough landing,” Guam Veterans Affairs Office Director Jose San Agustin told The Guam Daily Post on Monday.
The last two years Guam participated in the event, wreaths were laid on veterans’ graves in Piti and Hagåtña.
But as a result of recently taking over as VA director, San Agustin had intended not to participate in the Wreaths Across America event this year. In fact, San Agustin had informed the Wreaths Across America representative that “sadly, we didn’t plan to have it this year.”
Despite not intending to participate, according to San Agustin, Wreaths Across America confirmed that wreaths had already been purchased, and he agreed to allow the purchased wreaths to be placed at the cemetery.
“The only thing was they needed to find somebody on the outside to sponsor,” he said,
But it appears that after The Guam Daily Post inquired with the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration about the cancellation, San Agustin received a call from Adelup.
“Acting Gov. Josh (Tenorio) just told me, ‘Joe, let’s move forward with the Wreaths Across America.’ So really, what I need to do now is email (Wreaths Across America) to find out whether the shipment had taken off, when is it coming here, … (and) how many wreaths. Mind you, we did not budget for this,” he said.
San Agustin told the Post that not budgeting for the event won’t stop him from bringing it to fruition.
“Knowing that the veterans and the families want to do this. What initially I was planning to do was do a downscale where the veterans organizations, the nonprofit, would administer the program and be able to support it (by) having food there (and) drinks for the folks. The biggest thing is the logistics,” he said.
But, according to San Agustin, the acting governor has committed to support the VA office with “whatever funding” is needed to put the event together.
With Adelup’s financial backing, San Agustin said the Wreaths Across America event for Guam will be as big, if not bigger, than last year.
“I am going to get it to the point where it’s equivalent to how it went last year or better,” he said.
U.S. and Guam flags, part of the Wreaths Across America event, are seen Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022, at the Guam Veterans Cemetery in Piti.
