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Wreaths across America

Wreaths across America

Diane Kilgore

A little more than fifty years ago an ambitious twelve year old boy, Morrill Worcester, won a trip to Washington D.C by selling the most editions of his hometown paper, The Bangor Daily News. While visiting Arlington National Cemetery the paper-router was instilled with respect for National service and sacrifice.

Three decades after that inspirational trip the Down-East'r seized an opportunity in 1992 to honor Veterans when his Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine had an unexpected surplus of 5,000 fresh balsam wreaths. In the spirit of Christmas Morrill with help from local truckers, and volunteers from the VFW and American Legion coordinated an effort with Members of the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C. to ship those heavenly scented, red-bowed remembrances to Arlington National Cemetery.

Former U.S. diplomat recalls escaping Castro
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Former U.S. diplomat recalls escaping Castro

Stephen Beale

For many Americans, Fidel Castro is a feared figure who brought the United States as close as it's even been to the brink of nuclear war. But few have had as close a brush with the wrath of the former communist leader as former Ambassador J. William Middendorf.

In the 1950s, Middendorf was a junior partner at Wood, Struthers and Company, a Wall Street investment firm that had tasked him with overseeing a new venture that converted the discarded stalks from harvested sugar cane into hardboard. Sometime in the mid to late 1950s, he traveled to Camagüey—a province far southeast from the capital of Havana—to inspect the factory where the wood was made.

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