Although the Wreaths Across America service on Saturday was full of positive overtones, Gene Schands choked back emotion as he placed an evergreen wreath on a gravestone at Deschutes Memorial Chapel and Gardens.

He didn’t know the veteran buried there, but that wasn’t the point. Like the rest of those at the cemetery, Schands was there to honor veterans who have no one to remember them.

“This is harder than I thought,” said Schands, a former Navy Corpsman during the Vietnam War. “I thought my response would be more joyful. I lost my brother in 1966 … I thought I was over it.”

Schands’ face wasn’t the only one streaked with tears. Throughout Bend Saturday, families and service members gathered for National Wreaths Across America Day to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifice made by military service members throughout United States history.

The first Wreaths Across America ceremony was held in 2007, when the Worcester family from Maine decided to donate their farm’s leftover holiday wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery. Since then, the small act of kindness has grown into a national effort of volunteers who place holiday wreaths on the graves of veterans at over 3,728 locations across the country.

“Today we show to you our belief that we are eternal beings and that we honor our veterans by being on their graves and saying their names… The circular shape symbolizes honor, respect and victory,” said Barbara Jullian, a nun and U.S. Navy veteran, in an invocation addressed to those gathered at the cemetery.

The memorial service for the 1,500 Central Oregon veterans laid to rest at Deschutes Memorial Chapel and Gardens took place in the Deschutes Memorial Chapel. By the time the service began at 9 a.m., it was standing room only in the small chapel. Lining the aisle were the Boy Scout of America Troop 25, the Mountain View High School Color Guard, and Central Oregon Band of Brothers flag line.

In the ceremony’s closing address, Retired U.S. Navy Command Master Chief J.W. Terry, told a story from his childhood about decorating graves on Veterans Day. Back then, he said, the children ran around in silence lest his grandmother admonish them for disturbing the souls resting in eternal sleep.

But Saturday, Terry wanted everyone to do precisely the opposite.

“I’m very respectful during the ceremony, but then some of us will stand around and talk about the person that we’ve laid to rest and we will laugh and we will joke and I’ve even heard a few of the guys giggle,” Terry said. “So if you’re out there today, don’t be afraid to talk and if you know somebody directly maybe wake up the two people beside them and let them have a little fun.”

After the ceremony, the crowd moved from the chapel outside to watch the boy scouts place the ceremonial wreaths at the Central Oregon Veterans Memorial. The flag raising ceremony — along with a rifle salute, the playing of taps and a performance by Mike Baxter on the bagpipes — marked the end to the ceremony and speeches and a beginning to the work of laying the wreaths.

As the crowd dispersed, everyone grabbed a wreath — still supplied by the Worcester Wreath Company of Maine — and embarked upon the cemetery to find graves marked with the American flag.

In the end, Schands was able to master his emotions.

“If I look for the positive, it’s the kids and the parents who brought them,” he said. “People want to eliminate things from our past and it’s a big mistake. If we don’t show our children the mistakes, then they will make them again.”