Click Here for Map of Truck Locations

The annual Wreaths Across America event will be held at Arlington National Cemetery Saturday, December 13, 2014. Event organizers are planning to place wreaths throughout the entire cemetery in honor of Arlington’s 150th anniversary.

The cemetery will be closed to vehicle traffic until 3 p.m. ANC Tours, Arlington’s interpretative bus tour, will not operate this day. This is a walking event. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable walking shoes and bring refillable water bottles. Temporary restrooms will be located throughout the cemetery.

Find trucks and temporary restrooms on-site with ANC Explorer   

This year, Arlington National Cemetery will be using its app, ANC Explorer, to let participants know when trucks are empty and where they need volunteers to help place wreaths. To use ANC Explorer, download the free app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Push notifications will need to be enabled, as well as “Share Location.”

Once in ANC Explorer, click on the “Wreaths Across America” tab for details. On Android devices, click the three bars to see the entire content. Click the link to the interactive map. Truck and temporary restroom locations will be on the map. There will also be a thumbnail for the McClellan Gate where the Opening Ceremony is taking place. For those who enabled “Share Location,” their location will appear on the map. As trucks are emptied, we will remove the trucks from the map and send a push notification.  

Schedule of Events

7:00 a.m. --Metro rail opens (system-wide). Welcome Center Parking Garage opens for ANC Family Pass and Handicap Pass ONLY

8:00 a.m. -- Arlington National Cemetery Gates Open

8:15-8:30 a.m. -- Wreaths Across America Truck Convoy arrives at Arlington's Main Gate (time approx.)

9:00 a.m. -- Opening Ceremony (McClellan Gate)

9:30 a.m. -- Wreath laying begins throughout the cemetery

11:00 a.m. -- Wreath laying ceremony at President Kennedy’s grave

11:30 a.m. -- Wreath laying ceremony at USS Maine Mast

Noon -- Wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

1:00 p.m. -- Two-millioneth wreath to be placed by founder Morrill Worcester on Pvt. William Christman's grave, cemetery's first military burial (Section 27)

Parking Information

For safety reasons, no general public vehicles/ANC Family passes/Disability vehicles are allowed inside Arlington National Cemetery until 3 p.m. Families with permanent parking passes (ANC Family passes) can park in the Welcome Center Garage free-of-charge until 3 p.m. For those with disabilities, the Administration Parking Lot is designated parking.

There is public parking available in the Eads, Fern and Joyce lots and a section of Pentagon North Parking. The Eads, Fern and Joyce lots are each about the same distance to the south Service Complex gate (the gate berween the Air Force and Pentagon Memorials).

Metro Information 

Because of the large number of volunteers and lack of adequate parking, participants are highly encouraged to take Metro.

Metro stops:

1) Arlington Cemetery: Blue Line; Cemetery entrance: Main -- Follow signs to enter Welcome Center or main gates in front of the Women's Memorial.

2) Rosslyn: Orange and Blue Lines; Cemetery entrance: Ord & Weitzel (.7 mi) -- Follow signs to Iwo Jima Memorial. Continue south downhill toward cemetery. Entrance is an iron gate across the street from the end of the Iwo Jima Memorial access road.

3) Pentagon: Yellow and Blue Lines; Cemetery entrance: south Service Complex (.7 mi) -- Follow signs to Pentagon Memorial. Go west under S. Washington Blvd. Gate on right, off Columbia Pike, downhill from the Air Force Memorial.

4) Pentagon City: Yellow and Blue Lines; Cemetery entrance: south Service Complex (.9 mi) -- Follow signs to the Pentagon Memorial. Cross under I-395 pedestrian tunnel. Go west under S. Washington Blvd. Gate on right, off Columbia Pike, downhill from the Air Force Memorial.

Arlington National Cemetery Gates Open For Public Access (clockwise from north):

• Ord & Weitzel (north side) south of the Netherlands Carillon and the Iwo Jima Memorial

• Main (east side) on Memorial Avenue by the Women’s Memorial and Welcome Center entrance

• Welcome Center (east side) accessible on west side of Welcome Center

• South Service Complex off Columbia Pike between the Air Force and Pentagon Memorials

• Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall (northwest side) near the Old Post Chapel (DoD ID required)

For more information, go to www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.