John and Susan McColley spearheaded the National Wreath Project with the help of Stan Clark of Gettysburg. The parents of Eric McColley who was killed in the War on Terror in February 2006 started placing wreaths on his grave around Thanksgiving of 2006.Each time they visited the cemetery with a new wreath they would place the existing wreath on the grave of a neighboring Marine. They noticed that many of the other graves were not being decorated and from that day forward they decided to honor as many as they could. In 2006, they placed 515 wreaths.
This year, with the help of so many, they were able to put over 2700 wreaths total- 500 wreaths on grave sites at Gettys
burg National Cemetery and over 2,100 at Quantic
o National Cemetery.The Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation was so proud to financially support this noble and worthwhile cause. Foundation Board Member, Captain Tony Mitchell and his two young sons (above) helped with this effort.
The Eric McColley Scholarship of Honor was established in 2007 at Gettysburg High School and is awarded to a graduating student going into the military or a form of community or public service.
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