There are almost 1,200 graves at JBLM cemetery. Volunteers put wreaths on each one

There are 1,194 graves at the Camp Lewis Cemetery at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and on Saturday a wreath was placed on each one.

“Volunteers placed holiday Remembrance Wreaths on all 1,194 Veterans' graves at the Camp Lewis Cemetery this morning as part of the National Wreaths Across America Day Ceremony,” base officials tweeted. “Thank you to everyone who volunteered and contributed.”

Images tweeted by JBLM show the green wreaths with red bows placed in front of the graves. A ceremony was held Saturday.

Wreaths Across America is program that started in Massachusetts, where a wreath company took its surplus wreaths to the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in 1992. The idea grew in to a national tradition. In 2015, more than 900,000 wreaths were placed at nearly 1,100 locations.

In 2016, the Camp Lewis Cemetery was added to the tradition. Wreaths can be sponsored for $15 via the organization’s website.

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 1:34 PM with the headline "There are almost 1,200 graves at JBLM cemetery. Volunteers put wreaths on each one."