BVA National Headquarters represented blind and low vision veterans throughout the country with the presentation of an organizational wreath at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day. The effort complemented similar Veterans Day activities of blinded veterans and their families in their communities and regional groups. 

With representatives of approximately 40 other VSOs looking on and all eventually presenting a similar wreath, the symbolic gesture paying tribute to all veterans capped off a day of memorable activities for BVA in and around a chilly but sun-drenched November 11 in the National Capital Area. Participating in the wreath laying were Executive Director Don Overton, Director of Development Meredith Buono-DaGrossa, Veterans Service Program Director Duayne Driscoll, and Deputy Director of Government Relations Alek Libbin.

The laying of the BVA wreath followed the traditional dignitary wreath laying precisely at 11:11am, witnessed by Don and Meredith and performed on this occasion by President Joeseph R. Biden.

Afterward, the President joined Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Denis McDonough and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) Commander-in-Chief Duane Sarmiento in addressing veterans and a capacity crowd of approximately 6,000 in the cemetery’s adjacent Memorial Amphitheater.

Several hours before the ceremonies, Don began his Veterans Day before dawn to attend a breakfast for VSO National Presidents or Executive Directors at the White House. Following the President’s wreath laying, he was seated on the same amphitheater platform as the other VSO leaders and introduced as the BVA Executive Director.

With the BVA flag firmly in a harness at his waste, Mid-Atlantic Regional Group Vice President and Washington, DC resident Lawrence Harrison marched with the flag in the ceremonial Parade of Colors with the assistance of sighted guide Bessie Powell. Ruth Wallace, a Northern Virginia blinded veteran who recently learned about and joined BVA, carried the United States flag with the assistance of her father, Dallas Baugh, also a veteran.

VFW, the host organization for the entire day’s events by virtue of its membership on the Veterans Day National Committee to which BVA also belongs, hosted a reception at the Military Women’s Memorial. The event was also attended by the BVA contingency following the wreath laying.