Keesler BX Plays Key Role in Wreath-Laying Event at Biloxi National Cemetery

In 2013, Crusaders for Veterans, a nonprofit organization whose mission includes honoring the fallen, began placing wreaths on gravesites at Biloxi National Cemetery on the first Saturday of December.

Keesler Exchange Store Manager Sandra Jefferson assists an Airman with wreath preparation on Military Day, when volunteers are invited to come to the BX to prepare wreaths for Wreaths for Biloxi National Cemetery. The Keesler store has supported the event since 2015.

After a couple of years of ordering wreaths through civilian retailers, Kevin Cuttill, the organization’s president, realized it would be better to work through a retailer that was connected with and understood the military. So he contacted the Kessler Air Force Base Exchange.

“We wanted to involve the base, and the BX contributes to the morale, recreation and welfare on the base,” Cuttill said. “I started talking with the BX, and, since 2015, they’ve been our go-to. We thought it was a perfect marriage, and they have not let us down at all.”

The 2015 order was for 1,200 wreaths. Buyer April Wilson made sure that the BX could fill the order in time for the first wreath-laying event, and she has assisted Crusaders for Veterans every year since. The wreaths remain at the cemetery through early January, when they are picked up and placed in storage for use the following year.

But there are still orders for new wreaths, as well as for new bows. Since 2015, Keesler has ordered 19,000 wreaths and 45,000 red bows. In 2021 alone, Crusaders for Veterans requested 4,000 wreaths, as well as 5,000 red bows.

The Keesler store’s role goes beyond filling their orders. On the Thursday before the wreath-laying, the store hosts Military Day, in which Keesler Airmen and Marines assist in preparing the wreaths for the event.

“Kevin likes to get the military involved,” said Store Manager Sandra Jefferson. “So we put on an event for fluffing of the wreaths. They start here, and whoever wants to help prepare the wreaths for the gravesites.”

The scene at the Keesler BX during Military Day, when volunteers and associates prepare wreaths for Wreaths for Biloxi National Cemetery.

The wreaths are then loaded onto trucks and transported to the cemetery, which is about a 15-minute drive from the Keesler store. On Friday, wreaths are unloaded and preparation continues. Because of COVID restrictions, Wreaths for Biloxi National Cemetery didn’t take place in 2020, so thousands of wreaths sat in semis for more than a year and needed to be fluffed up or have their bows replaced. Cuttill said that more than 24,000 wreaths were placed at the cemetery this year.

Keesler associates participate in preparing the wreaths, but because the wreath-laying ceremony takes place on a Saturday during the busy holiday season, they are usually unable to attend. But the team feels privileged to be involved.

“It’s a tremendous honor for us to be the ones who order the wreaths and get them here in a timely manner, and then to be outside, participating in the fluffing of the wreaths,” Jefferson said.