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Wreaths Across America Missing Over 1,300 Wreaths for Veterans

Over 1,300 wreaths that were supposed to lay by the tombstones of our veterans at Fort Jackson Cemetery were missing.

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - What was supposed to be a beautiful wreath laying ceremony at Fort Jackson ended up surrounded by confusion.

Over 1,300 wreaths that were supposed to lay by the tombstones of our veterans at Fort Jackson Cemetery were missing.

Carol Davis, the cemetery's coordinator, says they get the wreaths from the organization Wreaths Across America. When their shipment came in on Friday morning, Davis says she noticed they were short. She says they did not get any notification that they wouldn't be receiving all of them, and that it was too late to do anything about it.

News 19 reached out to the Wreaths Across America organization to ask what happened, and they said it was due to technology failure causing shipping errors. Organization rep Amber Caron says some cemeteries got too many wreaths, some got too few, and some got none at all. Caron went on to say that no one locally had been at fault, and that the problem stemmed at headquarters.

Still, Davis says she doesn't want people to forget the real reason behind the event.

"We weren't here to decorate graves, we were here to remember those who've gone before us," Davis said, "honor those who are serving right now and to teach our children that freedom's not free."

Davis says thousands of people still attended the event.

Caron tells us they will give Fort Jackson Cemetery the option to have the remaining wreaths sent in this week or have a credit to be used for wreaths next year.

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