HOUSTON — KHOU’s Verify team is looking into some shocking claims: wreaths being stolen off local veterans’ graves.
A KHOU viewer says it happened to his family and calls it “sickening”. So, what’s going on?
Each December, remembrance wreaths are placed on the graves of fallen veterans at Houston National Cemetery. KHOU proudly sponsors the Wreaths Across America event, which took place recently on Dec. 14.
A viewer emailed KHOU Monday and said his wife and mother-in-law went to the cemetery Sunday to see the wreath they donated for his father-in-law. Instead, they found no wreath on the gravesite.
That viewer says representatives from the cemetery and Wreaths Across America later told his wife, “they are having a large number of wreaths stolen off of the graves.”
KHOU called Jessica Jacobsen with the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs the Houston National Cemetery. The Verify team also spoke with Peggy Slay, Director for Wreaths Across America-Houston.
Both Jacobsen and Slay said they had not received any reports of wreaths being stolen from the property. However, Slay said her nonprofit had received “a handful” of reports in 2019 of wreaths being moved from one grave to another.
“The people that are moving them, I think 99 percent of them mean no ill will,” said Slay. “It’s just that they want their loved one to have a wreath.”
Slay says Houston has one of the few national cemeteries that do special requests for wreaths at specific graves. While those graves are marked, Slay thinks some visitors may not know what those markers mean.
“However, it is great harm because in this situation this gentleman’s gone out, he’s made the donation for his loved one, the family comes out to see it, and the wreath’s not there,” Slay said. “So, it has a lasting impact on everyone when the wreaths area moved.”
Slay told KHOU Wreaths Across America was short 25,000 wreaths of covering every grave in the cemetery in 2019 because of donations. Now they’re already fundraising for December 2020, hoping Houstonians’ generosity will help them reach that goal.
KHOU can verify wreaths are being moved from some graves, though there’s no proof so far they’ve been removed from the cemetery.
Slay added that 24/7 security at the cemetery is not feasible because of the cost.
Jacobsen told KHOU a VA official left a message Monday afternoon to the viewer that emailed KHOU. Slay planned to contact that person Monday night in hopes of making the situation right.
Anyone who has had a wreath moved from their loved one’s grave should contact Wreaths Across America-Houston.
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