Boulder’s Columbia Cemetery becomes a living history lesson during Wreaths Across America

Winds did not deter enthusiasm for the national Wreaths Across America event on Dec. 13 at the city-owned Columbia Cemetery in Boulder.

The Wreaths Across America organization honors all military veterans, while also setting an example of the value of freedom for the next generation.

The 2025 event marked the second year of Columbia’s participation. City officials, cemetery volunteers, community veterans and members of the public assembled for a ceremony near the cemetery’s main entrance at Ninth and Pleasant streets, in Boulder. Stanley Peterson, a Vietnam veteran, was in the audience and stated that he had come to the ceremony to honor all veterans, including those he lost in Vietnam.

The Wreaths Across America tradition of honoring veterans’ graves began in 1992, when a wreath-maker in Maine donated his surplus to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. After national exposure in 2007, the business owner created the Wreaths Across America nonprofit organization. In recent years, volunteers have placed wreaths in more than 4,900 locations across the country. The wreaths continue to be made in Maine.

In opening remarks, Brian Wegner acknowledged the six branches of the military — Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard — as well as the Merchant Marines and POW/MIA (prisoners of war and those missing in action).

City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde then introduced Boulder’s Deputy City Attorney Roberto Ramirez, who, as lieutenant colonel, represented the Air Force. He emphasized that members of the military serve to give back to their country, adding, “We’re here to remember veterans’ lives, not their deaths.”

After the ceremony, local volunteers began laying wreaths on individual graves, saying the name of the deceased out loud at each site.

Many of the wreaths, priced at $17 each, had been purchased by individual donors. A $700 portion of the donations was earmarked for future conservation efforts at the cemetery. Although Columbia has 296 known veterans, funding only covered 216, meaning not every veteran received a wreath. Instead, the wreaths were spread evenly throughout the 10.5-acre cemetery.

Although not all of Columbia’s veterans served during times of war, Columbia Cemetery dates back to 1870 and includes burials from the following conflicts: the Mexican-American War, Plains Indian Wars, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean Conflict.

Several veterans, including Thomas K. Carmack (1829–1906), served in more than one war. Carmack fought in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, then became a captain in the Texas Rangers during the American Civil War. Afterwards, he moved to western Boulder County and lived in Salina, where he was well known as a teamster and miner.

Edward Baker, a veteran of the Plains Indian Wars, was also honored at the event. Born in 1861, likely into an enslaved family, he served in Company D of the 9th U.S. Cavalry and died of tuberculosis in Longmont in 1904. Baker was a Buffalo Soldier, the name given to members of any of six all-Black regiments formed by the federal government in the years following the Civil War. Baker’s remains were unmarked for more than a century until a few years ago, when former cemetery volunteer Jack Box ordered and installed an official military gravestone. At the time, he stated, “Recognizing our veterans helps us understand our place in history.”

Jack Smith (1929-2023) is one of Columbia’s most recent veteran burials. He served during the Korean Conflict in the Army Corps of Engineers from 1953 to 1955, then in the Reserves until 1961. Smith did not deploy overseas but was stationed at the Presidio at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Classified as a cartographer, his technical work involved making maps and signs and interpreting aerial photographs. In civilian life, Smith was an archaeologist.

Boulder’s Mountain View Cemetery also celebrated the Wreaths Across America event. Organizers hope Wreaths Across America events at both cemeteries will become an annual tradition. May these veterans, and all veterans, be remembered and rest in peace.