Truckers transport wreaths to decorate veterans' graves

Eighty-eight big rigs carrying a veritable forest of handmade evergreen wreaths fanned out from Harrington, Maine, earlier this month, bound for 740 state and national cemeteries across the country. Volunteers met the trucks to participate in ceremonies and help lay over 325,000 wreaths on veterans' graves.

Forty-three trucking companies answered the call from the Wreaths Across America initiative, which seeks to honor and remember fallen soldiers during the holiday season. The carriers volunteered their vehicles and drivers.

The American Trucking Associations' (ATA) Share the Road truck, along with trucks from owner-operator Scott Harris, Hartt Transportation, Oakhurst Dairy, Pottles Transportation, Schneider National, Walmart Transportation, and Witte Bros. Exchange, were part of a special convoy that delivered 12 truckloads of wreaths from Bangor, Maine, to Arlington National Cemetery.

ATA member Barry Pottle of Pottles Transportation organized the transportation routes this year, as he has in the past. Pottles received the 2010 Founders Award from Wreaths Across America in recognition of the significant improvements he has made in the logistics of the operation and for getting the trucking industry involved in the effort.

A complete list of carrier volunteers can be found here.