Greenwood Cemetery and a local VFW Ladies Auxiliary have teamed up for the third year for Wreaths Across America, which honors American veterans.

The program was started in 1992 after the Worchester Wreath Company in Maine donated its excess holiday stock to Arlington National Cemetery, according to Steve Kapp, director of marketing for Greenwood Cemetery.

The annual tribute remained fairly low-key until 2005, when a photo of the Arlington wreaths, covered in snow, went viral on the Internet, and Worchester Wreath Company became inundated with requests from around the country to participate.

“At first, they only wanted national cemeteries,” said Becky Abbott, president of the VFW 1069 Auxiliary, based in Fairfield. “But then they started letting any cemetery with a military section be a part of it.”

“Our mission is to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach our children the value of freedom,” said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America.

Nationally, Maine balsam wreaths will be placed on more than 325,000 veterans’ graves at more than 800 cemetery or memorial sites in all 50 states, as well as 20-plus foreign locations, Worcester said.

The Fairfield-based 1069 Auxiliary sponsored the first local Wreaths Across America event in 2010 with 53 wreaths sponsored by local organizations and individuals. Last year, the Auxiliary garnered 83 wreaths, Abbott said, and the number has jumped to 160 this year.

This year’s National Remembrance Ceremony will be at noon Saturday, Dec. 15, in the scattering garden near the new flagpole at Greenwood Cemetery’s office. Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller will lay one of seven ceremonial wreaths, “one for each branch of the military plus one for POWs and MIAs,” Abbott said.

Active military personnel from the Army Reserve will assist in the wreath-laying. Hamilton Police Honor Guard, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1069 Color Guard and the Daughters of the American Revolution will also participate.

“Following the seven ceremonial wreath laying, we will move into the cemetery to lay over 100 wreaths starting with John Reily, Butler County’s only American Revolutionary War Veteran, then move to the World War I section,” Abbott said.

Anyone attending the ceremony is invited to assist in the laying of the wreaths.

To sponsor a live wreath for next year’s ceremony or for more information about Wreaths Across America, call 513-742-2715.