The Remember My Service Project is a compilation of letters, interviews and photos that span from September 11, 2001 through the end of 2010. National Guard historian Alan Brown says he gathered a lot of information for this project.

He says the book will have some journal pages in the back of it for guardsmen to fill out with some memories of their service. Brown says this book will be an asset to future generations who want to know about military service in a post-September 11th world.

Brown says the guard has been deployed around the word, and started the Agribusiness Development Team in Afghanistan, as well as helped out domestically with Katrina and the tornado in Joplin. All of these missions and interviews with families are documented in this project.

Brown says the guardsmen will get their book and DVD this December, most likely when the platoons have Family Day. Copies will be available to anyone else who wants to see the Missouri National Guard history later.

AUDIO Allison Blood reports. Mp3 [1:01]

Wreaths Across America at the Jacksonville Veterans Cemetery, 2008. Photo courtesy, Larry Carmer.

Wreaths Across America began as something of a happy accident involving the Worchester Wreath Company in Maine in 1992. The company found itself with a surplus of wreaths near the end of the holiday season, and placed them on graves at Arlington Cemetery. Since then, the program has grown to a nationwide effort to put wreaths on as many veterans’ graves as possible, to make sure their sacrifice is remembered over the holidays.

Each year the program involves a nationwide, simultaneous ceremony followed by the placing of the wreaths. This year, that event is December 10 at 11:00 a.m., Missouri time.

17 cemeteries in the state are participating. Organizers in Missouri say as it stands, however, several of those sites will not have enough wreaths to place one on the grave of each of their veterans.

Art Compton is the organizer at the St. James Veterans Cemetery. He says it takes 761 wreaths to accommodate all the graves he looks after.  As of Tuesday morning he has commitments for 581.  Other cemeteries in the state also need more wreaths to meet their goals.

Seven wreaths are presented at the Jacksonville Veterans Cemetery in 2010. Each participating cemetery receives at least seven wreaths; one for each branch of the military. Photo courtesy, Larry Carmer.

Compton says even one grave going unadorned impacts him deeply. “In my heart, I’ve failed ‘em. These are the people that I would not have my freedom that I so wonderfully enjoy and treasure so deeply. Without their commitment I would not have that, so therefore my commitment is to make sure they do not go without being respected on a holiday.”

Donations and commitments for this year can still be made through Friday. To find out how to donate, visit the Wreaths Across America website. You can also use the site to find participating cemeteries with contacts and other information for each of them.

A nationwide State House Ceremony precedes the wreath-laying event. On December 5 at 11:00 a.m. Central, a wreath will be presented at Missouri’s State Capital in Jefferson City.

Army Ranger Jacob Vogel is a young veteran; he finished his service as a Ranger in 2010. He has spoken to the Jefferson City Veteran’s Council about the importance he sees in this holiday.

Army Ranger Jacob Vogel speaks to fellow veterans at American Legion Post 5 in Jefferson City.

He says talking to other veterans about how wars are different now than they were ten or fifty years ago. Vogel served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Sniper and a Gunner. He says his father, who was also in the military, inspired him to be part of something he called “a wonderful happy fraternity.”

He says now the enemy is less clearly defined. He says a lot of the technology has changed over the years, but he says “old-fashioned boots on the ground” work is what wins wars. He says Veterans’ Day is especially important now because its easy for people to forget about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because the enemy is not as easy to picture, and the battlefield is so different from conflicts in the past.