In 1992 in Harrington, Maine, wreath maker Morrill Worcester sought to turn a surplus of 5,000 holiday wreaths into an opportunity to pay tribute to our country’s veterans. With the help of then Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, Worcester arranged for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington National Cemetery. The tradition continued for more than a decade before national attention spurred the start of the 501c3 Wreaths Across America in 2007. Since then, the program has grown in scope, touching the lives of thousands of veterans’ families and volunteers in every state across the country. In 2017 alone, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers laid over 1.5 million veterans' wreaths at 1,433 locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea, and abroad.
Today, Wreaths Across America (WAA) announces that it has been granted permission by the French authorities, on the basis of phytosanitary guarantees provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to place 9,387 Maine-made, balsam veterans’ wreaths on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, on the headstones of all U.S. service members laid to rest at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, located in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The cemetery is one of 14 permanent American World War II military cemeteries on foreign soil. The government of France granted use of the land, in perpetuity. United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower and French President René Coty dedicated the cemetery on July 18, 1956.
RPS/Royal Fumigation was contacted by WAA to assist in completing the export requirements of the French Ministry of Agriculture by fumigating 9,500 wreaths made at their Harrington, ME facility on November 8, 2018 for the December 15 Wreaths Across America Event. In a three-day itinerary, with a week’s notice, RPS coordinated with Maine USDA APHIS and WAA proprietary management to treat 9,500 package wreaths using the APHIS treatment schedule for Christmas Trees so a Phytosanitary certificate of treatment could be presented to the French Ministry of Agriculture. RPS’s Master Technicians George Milyo and Nick Casper, and Senior Fumigation Specialist Chris Dodgson transported fumigation equipment from New Castle, DE to Harrington, ME. The RPS Team conducted an onsite customization of the tarpaulin and close quarter facilities coordination for the completion of the treatment in a 12-hour time span to expedite the wreaths for shipment to France
