Emporia, the founding city of Veterans Day, hosted another important ceremony to honor its veterans.

The Wreaths Across America wreath-placing ceremony was held at Maplewood Memorial Lawn Cemetery on Saturday at 11 a.m.

The event’s purpose was to place a wreath symbolizing courage and honor at the grave of each veteran buried at the cemetery.

This year, Scott Burenheide, the event’s organizer for the past three years, and a team of volunteers raised enough money to honor all 2,300 veterans buried at the cemetery.

Burenheide began the ceremony by telling the story of U.S. Army Capt. Joshua Byers, whose last words before he was killed by an IED in Iraq were, “Keep moving forward”, which was the theme of this year’s ceremony.

“His story represents why our year-long mission is so vital,”

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