A parking lot in Springfield played a major role this year in Wreaths Across America’s annual tribute to fallen military service members at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Interstate Van Lines building at 5801 Rolling Road in Springfield served as a major staging area for dozens of tractor-trailer trucks that transported wreaths to the cemetery, where Wreaths Across America laid tributes at every single gravesite last Saturday (Dec. 14).
The tractor trailers arrived at the Interstate Van Lines parking lot last week after traveling down the East Coast from Columbia, Maine.
For the final leg of the annual Escort to Arlington organized by Wreaths Across America, the trucks were escorted by police motorcycles from the parking lot to Arlington last Friday, Dec. 13.
As the motorcade left, a large American flag flew over the parking lot, hanging between ladder trucks from Fairfax County’s Franconia and Annandale fire stations. Firefighters from each station were on hand.
Employees from Interstate Van Lines and other nearby buildings gathered to wave small American flags as the police motorcade and trucks passed by.
The Fairfax County Police Department confirmed that it provided support for the “Escort to Arlington.”
“On Friday, our FCPD Motor Unit proudly assisted Wreaths Across America with an escort leading up to this meaningful event,” a department spokesperson told FFXnow. “Specializing in escorts, we are honored to support traditions that pay tribute to service and sacrifice, ensuring those who served are remembered with honor.”
Interstate Group Holdings, a national moving and logistics company started in 1943, offered to host all Wreaths Across America’s trucks at its Springfield facility in 2022.
In addition to allowing trucks to park, the company opens its facilities, including showers and bathrooms, around the clock to the drivers, who also get sandwiches at night and breakfast in the morning. Interstate is also responsible for receiving the wreaths, offloading them, and delivering them.
This is the third year of the agreement between Interstate and Wreaths across America.
A nonprofit that got its start in 1992 when a Maine wreath company decided to pay tribute to veterans by laying its excess wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery, Wreaths Across America now has a national network of volunteers who lay wreaths in more than 4,200 participating locations across the country each December.
This year’s National Wreaths Across America Day was Saturday, Dec. 14. That day, Metro’s Arlington Cemetery station saw its second-highest ridership since 2019, with more than 14,000 people riding the rails for the ceremony, Metro shared yesterday (Monday).
It was a busy day for Arlington Cemetery on Saturday w/ Wreaths Across America, honoring America’s fallen soldiers by placing a wreath at every gravesite. This tribute contributed to one of the busiest days for the station, marking its second highest ridership since 2019. #wmata pic.twitter.com/23W4Od6vz3
— Metro Forward (@wmata) December 16, 2024
