They’ve laid wreaths on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Chapter president Skyla Govier said she was trying to come up with something that the group could go do together but would also honor the military. It started with a Google search and it turns out all that’s needed was for the organization to complete an application to get permission to lay the wreaths.

So the Kinzua chapter was given special dispensation to lay two wreaths and some members from the New York Chapter went with them and laid a wreath as well. The group traveled to D.C. last weekend

For Amy Cressley, it was the experience stepping on to the grounds that stands out.

Photo provided to the Times Observer The wreath that the Kinzua chapter of the Blue Star Mothers made to be laid on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“It’s humbling and just amazing,” she said. “(You) go through the visitor’s center (and) as soon as you walk out the door, it’s like dead silence. It just hits you.”

The ladies had to go through a briefing with a tomb sentinel prior to the ceremony.

“As I’m standing there looking down on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the magnitude of what that truly stood for hit me like a ton of bricks,” Govier siad. “All of the people that are buried at Arlington, what they have sacrificed for each and every one of us…. That was really, really just a humbling moment for me.’

“I can’t explain it, just surreal,” Lynette Ristau, an Air Force veteran, added. “Taps is very special to me, very dear to my heart. As many times as we heard it that day, I think I cried every time.”

The wreaths themselves were made here. Govier said when they saw projected costs for a wrench ranging from $150 to $450, they decided to make their own. Brenda Saporito said they were made of grapevine with little white flowers.

Photo provided to the Times Observer Lou Nordin and Brenda Saporito with the assistance of a U.S. Army soldier lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. -

“It was gorgeous,” she said. “That was us. From our little corner of Pennsylvania.”

When the wreath laying was complete, the sentinel on duty during the ceremony insisted on meeting the group.

“To witness the ceremony… was very emotional,” Pam Nordine said. “(It was) a true honor to be there.”

“Instantly my tongue was tied,” Govier said. “I was just in awe of this young man.”

That sentinel was from Pennsylvania, as well.

“It was just, to me, amazing,” Govier said of that conversation. “That little bit of time was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever experienced.”

Anne Wagner said they tried to convey how it was their honor to meet them but he insisted it was his honor to meet them.

She said her daughter and son-in-law are stationed at the Pentagon and her daughter kept telling her she had to come down and see the area.

“They came down to cheer us on,” she said.

For Karen Hert, the history of the area stuck.

“There were some sections too… they were saying the white stones that all look the same were purchased by the government because they were like a platoon that died or a ship that went down. When you looked at that, it would have like a marker (so you) knew what it was, in a perfect row…. (It) just hit you like all those people died at one time for our freedom. (We) just looked and it was row after row after row.”

“To have participated in the wreath laying ceremony is a memory I will hold dear in my heart,” Kim Albert said.

“The trip to Washington was absolutely a beautiful and surreal one for me,” Michelle McMillen added. “Spending time with my Blue Star Mothers chapter and performing in a ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown will always be a memorable experience for me and in the same time very humbling.”

The logistics of getting that many people around the capital weren’s without challenges.

“Trying to figure out how to work the train, we got horse and buggies,” Ristau said. “People were very helpful.

For some in the group, it was their first visit to Arlington or their first trip to DC.

Govier said she was having trouble finding a dinner reservation for 30 and called Ash Khare who got Congressman Glenn Thompson’s office involved in the effort.

Ristau said it’s an “experience I think high schools should do their field trips there. It’s very eye awakening to look across there and see all them tombstones. I can’t explain it.”

The group wanted to emphasize that each member covered their cost of their trip and that the only funding from the organization that was utilized was to secure supplies to be donated at Walter Reed Medical Center. That delivery was made in person over the weekend, as well.

It was augmented by a donation from an AMVETS group in New York State and community donations so that about $1,100 in supplies were donated.

“This community is just amazing,” Saporito said of the support they’ve received.

While that’s one part of the group’s mission, the other integral component is the opportunity to support each other.

“If it wasn’t for our children, we could have the Blue Star Mom title that we have,” Saporito said. “I’m very proud of my daughter who served for six years. (It is an) honor to have the title because of our children.”

“The support that we give each other,” Hert said, “when we’re doing through anything. It doesn’t have to be our children.” Her son is on the cusp of a deployment.

Govier said her son has deployed twice and that she doesn’t sleep well and will wake up gasping for air.

“I still have all my husband’s letters he mailed me,” Wagner said, when he was in basic training.

“People that don’t go through this don’t have any idea,” Saporito added.

Shared experience is an incredible source of comfort and that manifested so clearly on their trip.

“We just went down there on the blind,” Saporito said. “Everybody came together, worked together.”

Saporito said the Mothers definitely want to make this an annual event.

“We’re already asking ‘When can we go back?'”