On Dec. 7, 2025, families gathered at Arlington National Cemetery for Wreaths Across America Family Pass Holder Day. This special day allow families to honor their loved ones during the holiday season by laying a wreath at their grave markers.
Visitors traveled from across the country for the event, braving cold weather, traffic congestion and longer-than-usual wait times to receive their wreaths. Among the many visitors, one woman honored multiple family members, while two sisters paid tribute to their parents. Both stories reflect families' dedication to their relatives laid to rest in the cemetery.
Patricia Grey flew in from Tennessee with a friend, Jeff Barber, to honor her husband, parents and brother. Walking on frost-covered grounds during the early morning cold, she laid a wreath at the headstone of her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Philip J. Grey, and then stood back in silence for a moment.
Below his name, Sgt. 1st Class Grey's headstone bears the words, “Cephas, Our Rock.” Patricia explained that her husband used to call her "Cephas," which means "rock" in the ancient Aramaic language. She decided to inscribe this word onto his headstone, explaining, ‘You call me 'Cephas.' I'm calling you my rock, too.”
Grey met Patricia while serving in the Air Force at Andrews Air Force Base in 1977. They married a few months later and had two children, Michael and Nathaniel. After leaving the Air Force, Grey joined the Army eight years later—after watching “The Fighting 69th,” a 1940 movie about a World War I Army unit. “He had to start all over again as a private in basic training,” Patricia said. “I know it was tough, but he loved it.”
Patricia took pride in her husbad's service. “He became the Military District of Washington’s Soldier of the Month, Soldier of the Quarter and Soldier of the Year,” she said with a broad smile, “and he ended up working in a security detail for Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.”
Patricia also visited her parents’ and brother’s graves. Her brother, Bennet Parco, passed away in 1972, followed by her father, Petty Officer 2nd Class Bruno Parco, in 2014, and her mother, Nena Anguay, in 2017. After laying a wreath at the family headstone, Patricia spoke about how her father, a native of the Philippines, survived the Japanese occupation during World War II. “He said he ran to the hills when the Japanese invaded Bataan,” she explained, adding that when he finally made it out of the Philippines, he joined the U.S. Navy and served for 22 years.
Patricia shared that she appreciates Family Pass Holder Day, which enables her to place a wreath a week before the annual public Wreaths Across America Day. “I think it's the most wonderful thing the cemetery could do,” she said.
Later in the day, sisters Thea Bertola and Lisa Moffett placed a wreath at the base of their parents’ columbarium column. Hugo and Anne Bertola both served in the U.S. Army during World War II: Hugo as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army's 71st Infantry Division (part of Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army) and Anne as a captain in the Women’s Army Corps. They met after the war and married in 1954.
Thea said that her father rarely spoke about the war. Her first memories of him talking about his wartime service occurred when the family traveled to the Netherlands and visited the American Cemetery in Margraten. “He would look at the names on the headstones to see if any of his friends were buried there,” she said.
Anne Bertola, whom the daughters called “Nonna,” enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (which became the Women’s Army Corps in 1943) when she turned 21. “She wanted to pave the way for the other women in her hometown [New City, New York] to know that it was okay and good to do that,” Lisa said. “Her father didn’t want her to go, but her mom, our grandmother, encouraged her to serve.”
As Lisa’s husband helped her with the wreath, she handed him a small faux cardinal to clip onto the wreath. “When my mom passed,” she explained, “my daughter-in-law said, ‘you know, Lisa, whenever you see a cardinal, that’s Nonna flying by and visiting you.’ Now, every time I see a cardinal, I think, ‘there goes Mom.’”
Both daughters recalled their mother’s mantra: “Never, never, never give up.” Lisa wore the phrase on a wristband and said that the family started a golf tournament in their mother’s honor, calling it the Cardinal Classic—complete with golf balls bearing the mantra. With the wreath and cardinal in place, Lisa added a final touch, attaching a note which read, “Dear Mom and Dad, I talk to you every day. I love and am grateful for you both. I miss your smiles and embraces. Never, never, never give up. I love you, Lisa.”
As the two sisters and their families departed the columbarium, more family members arrived to place wreaths. Like others in the cemetery that day, they had come to honor and remember beloved relatives who had served their country and now rest within these hallowed grounds.