Pipes & Drums Band Welcomes Wreaths Across America to Lincroft

The Christian Brothers Academy Pipes & Drums Band had the honor of welcoming Wreaths Across America to Lincroft on Wednesday morning.

The Wreaths Across America caravan was traveling from Harrington, Maine to their ultimate destination, Arlington National Cemetery, when they stopped in Lincroft at the campus of Oak Hill Academy.

The Pipes & Drums Band played the caravan down the entrance way of the school, which included police escorts from both the New Jersey State Police and the Maine State Police. The caravan includes multiple tractor trailers full of nearly 400,000 wreaths.

At the ceremony, Wreaths Across America presented CBA past parents Dennis and Marion Zilinski with a wreath in honor of Lt. Dennis Zilinski II ’00, who died in combat in 2005.

A tribute to fallen veterans, Wreaths Across America holds wreath-laying ceremonies annually, typically on the second or third Saturday of December. Their annual pilgrimage from Harrington, Maine to Arlington National Cemetery has become known as the world’s largest veterans’ parade, stopping at schools, monuments, veterans’ homes and communities all along the way to remind people how important it is to “remember, honor and teach.”

The tradition began in 1992 when Worcester Wreaths began placing wreaths at veterans’ graves in a lonely section of Arlington National Cemetery. It gained national attention in 2005, when a beautiful photo of the snow-covered wreaths began circulating online.

While the main wreath-laying occurs at Arlington National Cemetery, there are now more than 1,400 additional ceremonies across the country. This year, ceremonies will occur on December 15th.

Check out a video of the caravan’s entrance, accompanied by the Pipes & Drums Band: