WWI Hello Girl’s recognition leads to Ft Lincoln cemetery’s first ever Wreaths Across America program

My first experience with Wreaths Across America came through my DAR chapter at the Wren-Darne Cemetery which is a small, privately owned historical family cemetery in Falls Church, VA containing veterans from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The Wren Darne Cemetery – Historic Places, Cemetery, Landmark The owner, Pete Greene, shared the remarkable story of discovering the cemetery, its history, and his dedicated efforts to restore it. Participating in that intimate ceremony with my DAR chapter, hearing Pete’s stories, and learning about the WAA program from our chapter’s cemetery representative opened my eyes to something powerful: a structured, well-organized way to honor veterans that anyone could implement.

Catherine Bourgin places a wreath on her grandmother’s grave marker as part of the 2025 Wreaths Across America event at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Maryland.

That same year, 2024, brought another milestone. After six years of advocacy, the Hello Girls,  the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Telephone Unit who served in World War I, including my grandmother, were finally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal when President Biden signed the NDAA bill in December. After my DAR chapter’s WAA ceremony, Pete generously gave me one of his extra WAA wreaths to place on my grandmother’s recently marked grave at Fort Lincoln Cemetery. As I placed her very first WAA wreath on her VA marker, I told her that she and all the Hello Girls had finally received their Congressional Gold Medal. It was a very moving moment of gratification and celebration.

That experience sparked something in me. I wanted to bring Wreaths Across America to Fort Lincoln Cemetery, where my grandmother is buried, and another Hello Girl, Miriam de Jersey Glenum. The cemetery management welcomed the idea without hesitation. What I didn’t anticipate was the challenge that came with it: Fort Lincoln wasn’t sure exactly how many veterans were buried within its 178 acres. Unlike many cemeteries with designated veterans’ sections, Fort Lincoln’s veterans are scattered throughout the grounds. The only way to verify their presence was to walk the rows, looking for VA markers or other indications of military service.

Since early 2025, I’ve walked about a third of the cemetery, starting from the front entrance off Bladensburg Road. What I discovered goes beyond individual graves. I found myself walking through history itself. “Fort Lincoln Cemetery has ties to the War of 1812, when Commodore Joshua Barney led a valiant holding action during the Battle of Bladensburg against British troops intent on burning the nation’s capital. During that battle, for the first time in our nation’s history, the president, members of his cabinet, and other high-ranking government officials were on the field directing troop movements. The remains of Battery Jameson, part of the Union defenses built to protect the capital during the Civil War, still lie within the cemetery grounds. Records show that President Abraham Lincoln met there with high-ranking officers to discuss strategy.

Catherine Bourgin (left) and Colonel (ret.) Linda Jansen, USA, place a wreath on the grave of WWI Hello Girl Miriam de Jersey Glenum during Ft. Lincoln’s Wreaths Across America event on December 13, 2025.  de Jersey Glenum is one of two Hello Girls buried at Ft. Lincoln cemetery.

Although not officially established until 1921, Fort Lincoln Cemetery is known for its thoughtful design and architecture. Spanning 178 acres, it is divided into a series of garden rooms with graves sitting upon rolling hills, and somewhere within those rolling hills” rest veterans from the Spanish-American War through the Gulf War.

On December 13, 2025, we held Fort Lincoln’s inaugural Wreaths Across America ceremony. The following are my opening remarks from that day:

Good afternoon, everyone.

I’m honored to stand before you today to share why we’re here, and to tell you a story that changed my family—and ultimately led me to this moment.

My grandmother answered the call in late 1917 and was in uniform by January 1918. She was one of 223 women in uniform and deployed to over 75 locations in France to serve as a bilingual telephone operator in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, AEF until her discharge in June 1919. She was stationed in Paris and Tours, connecting and translating the voices of those leading our nation’s efforts in WW1. She was one of the “Hello Girls”—a group of brave women whose service was essential, yet for decades remained unrecognized and then forgotten. After WW1, these women who served then had to fight the USG for the veterans status for sixty years until 1977 when the GI Amendment Bill was passed granting them their veterans status.  And it wasn’t until December 2024—more than 100 years after their service—that Congress awarded them the Congressional Gold Medal for their contributions. When my grandmother passed away, she was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. For 79 years, her service remained unacknowledged—until May 3rd, 2024, when she finally received her VA marker.

Thanks to the National Cemetery Administration, the Congressional WWI Centennial Commission, and the Doughboy Foundation, my grandmother finally received her VA marker—a simple stone that says what should have been said all along: that she mattered. That her service counted and deserves to be honored and remembered.

Then came December 2024. For the first time, I was able to place a wreath on her newly marked grave. Standing there, holding that wreath, I felt the weight of 79 years of silence finally lifted. And in that moment of joy, I thought: how many other families at Fort Lincoln don’t get to experience this? How many other veterans lie in these rows with no one to place a wreath, no one to say their names?

That wreath, that simple act of remembrance, sparked something in me. It made me want to share this joy—this profound joy of honoring and remembering—with every veteran buried here.

That is why I was inspired to spearhead this Wreaths Across America program for Ft. Lincoln cemetery.

Our mission is simple but profound: we walk these rows, one by one, confirming the veterans buried here. As I’ve walked these rows, I’ve seen grave markers spanning more than a century—from the Spanish-American War to the Gulf War. Each marker tells a story of service, sacrifice, and honor across generations. We ensure that no service goes unrecorded, no sacrifice goes unremembered. This year, we’ve confirmed 500 veterans. Each year, we will grow by another 500—because the work is far from finished.

Scenes from the day’s activities at the first Wreaths Across America event at Ft. Lincolon Cemetery in Maryland on December 13, 2025.

This year, in this inaugural year, 148 wreaths have been sponsored. Today, we will lay those wreaths on the graves of veterans in Block 1 and a few in Block 2. As our wreath sponsorship count grows, we will move to the next block, and the next, honoring our veterans in phases. This program has just begun, and the work ahead of us is substantial—but it is work worth doing.

But we cannot do this alone.

Wreaths Across America is not only a program for families to honor their veterans—it is a program for our community to come together and honor all veterans. Today, I’m pleased to see the Bladensburg High School Jr. ROTC color guard here with us. Their presence honors not just the past, but our future.

If you want to volunteer and help in addition to sponsoring wreaths, we need you in the new year. We need people willing to walk these rows, identifying veterans’ graves, and we need help securing corporate sponsorships. This work requires all of us.

I want to take a moment to thank the people who helped make today possible. To American Legion Post Commander Cynthia de Leon, who walked a block with me and offered suggestions that led us to the Jr. ROTC at Bladensburg High School and to our bugler today, Bob Kiker—thank you. From Freedom Hill chapter DAR, thank you Marla Bishop for walking the rows with me; thank you, Linda Jantzen, for recommending Reverend Rebekah Savage and for walking several blocks with me during the furlough. Thank you Ma Linda Dennis for your tireless effort to encourage wreath sponsorship through your large network of veterans and church organizations. And to Freddie Adams and Shannan Speicher, thank you for organizing all the ceremonial needs and details that we see here today. This program exists because of people like you who say yes, who show up, and who care.

We need your sponsorships—individual wreaths to honor individual heroes. We need corporate partners who understand that supporting this program is an investment in honoring those who invested everything in us. We need this community to stand with us and say: We remember you. Your service matters.

Every wreath placed is a promise. A promise that someone cares. That someone is paying attention. That someone remembers.

My grandmother waited 79 years for that promise to be kept. Let’s make sure no other veteran has to wait that long.

Thank you.

Wherever you are reading this article, your support will be greatly appreciated for  Ft Lincoln cemetery’s Wreaths Across America in 2026: www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/MDFTLN

External Web Site Notice: This page contains information directly presented from an external source. The terms and conditions of this page may not be the same as those of this website. Click here to read the full disclaimer notice for external web sites. Thank you.