2026 Update on Wreaths Across America at historic Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, MD

We endured the cold, snowy, gray days of winter and the blustery, unpredictable weather of March, and then suddenly, Spring has sprung! Time flies, which is exactly why I say it’s never too early to honor a veteran with a Wreaths Across America (WAA) wreath. My hope is that you will do just that for the 700 veterans I have recorded at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, MD, where I serve as the volunteer location coordinator.

Now in my second year, I continue to walk the rows recording veterans’ names across the 178 acres of Fort Lincoln Cemetery. Perhaps you read my article in the Doughboy Foundation’s January 2025 Dispatch newsletter about my first year and the cemetery’s first WAA wreath-laying ceremony (WWI Hello Girl’s recognition leads to Ft Lincoln cemetery’s first ever Wreaths Across America program | Doughboy Foundation). I am closing in on the midpoint of the cemetery property and have included a map of my progress. The green areas have been walked from 2025 to present day.

Map of Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, MD. The colored-in areas at left are the sections the Catherine Bourgin has walked to identify the graves of Veterans.

About five of these walks have been accompanied by friends and supporters, but the vast majority I have walked alone, because finding willing participants is not easy in our incredibly busy area. The walk can also be deceiving: the ground is not as smooth as it appears from a distance, and I have learned to move slowly and carefully to avoid various obstacles. Despite the uneven terrain, it is a wonderful opportunity for fitness. During some visits, I walk up to 2.5 miles.

Most of my time on site is peaceful. I relax and become reflective. I have watched the seasons change, heard the birds sing and seen them soar overhead, and spotted White Top helicopters and military aircraft flying to and from the DC area. Sometimes I pause at the end of a row, double-checking for missed grave markers, and suddenly notice one I had overlooked before. In those moments, I quietly thank that veteran for making himself known to me.

Monument to Commodore Barney and his Marines who fought in the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812.

Walking the rows on the hill where the Little Church of Fort Lincoln sits overlooking the cemetery below, I notice just behind the church a monument to Commodore Barney and his Marines who fought in the Battle of Bladensburg. That very hilltop is where the battle took place. As I search for veterans’ names on grave markers there, I am acutely aware that their supreme sacrifice happened on the very ground beneath my feet.

I do worry about whether I will find people willing to sponsor a wreath for a veteran in a cemetery they don’t know. Arlington National Cemetery tends to capture most of the public’s attention, and many people don’t realize that Wreaths Across America truly means across America, taking place in over 5,000 cemeteries nationwide. Fort Lincoln is one of the newer locations, established in January 2025.

My hope is that you will read this short update and also listen to my SoundCloud recording (https://on.soundcloud.com/pXCMFdI1U5HphqGYmY). It was made with the warm and engaging Chris Chapman of the Wreaths Across America Radio podcast, which we recorded live during a regional kickoff luncheon at a Mission BBQ in Maryland in February 2026. The owner of Mission BBQ presented a very generous check to WAA during the event. I had the pleasure of meeting several other Maryland Volunteer Location Coordinators to share our experiences and challenges.

While WAA provides an excellent, multifaceted support structure, meeting my regional coordinator and other Maryland Volunteer Location Coordinators who share my experience was a tremendous morale boost, exactly what I needed as a first-year coordinator finding her footing going into my second year.

With all of that in mind, here is what I am hoping for from you, the reader, for the 2026 Wreaths Across America Event at  Fort Lincoln Cemetery:

• Individual wreath sponsorships
• Volunteers to walk the rows with me
• Corporate sponsorship

I began this project inspired by the profound experience of placing a WAA wreath for the first time in December 2024 on the newly installed VA grave marker of my Hello Girls grandmother, Edmée LeRoux, a marker that had been dedicated just months earlier in May 2024. I’ll admit I was a little blinded by the joy of that moment and underestimated the sheer size of the cemetery and the work it would entail. I have accepted that challenge. Now I am ready for a new challenge: finding a corporate sponsor for 500 wreath sponsorships, which would in turn create the new challenge of finding enough volunteer attendees at the December ceremony to place them all. Perhaps someone reading this is exactly the person I am looking for?

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