"Every day had an episode like that along the way. It was just the high, and the low." --XPO pro driver David May, reflecting on the roller coaster of emotion hauling in the Maine-to-Arlington National Cemetery run of Wreaths Across America
Off the top of this week's Overdrive Radio podcast, we dive right into the experience of military veteran and longtime professional driver David May, trucking out of the Buffalo, New York, area and speaking to the range of emotion delivered by his 2024 participation in the annual effort of Wreaths Across America.
That's the Maine-headquartered organization that for many years now has built momentum across the nation, every December honoring fallen U.S. military members by laying wreaths on graves in ceremonies at military cemeteries.
Trucking plays a huge volunteer role in it, for certain, with wreath deliveries from Maine to points far afield, this year reaching nearly 5,600 sites, according to Wreaths Across America organizers.
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To give you an idea of the scale of that one, this year at Arlington, organizers noted, wreaths were placed on 265,000 individual headstones there through the work of 30,000 volunteers.
That haul alone is a massive undertaking, no doubt, but just one piece of the organization's mission to build and deliver wreaths to cemeteries all across the nation. Honoring the memory of the fallen isn’t the only aim. Here’s the goal in full: "Remember the fallen, Honor those who serve, and Teach the next generation the value of freedom."
David May is pictured here during his 2024 convoy participation.
May’s hauled day-to day for XPO going back decades to when he was with Con-way Freight before the XPO buyout,. He’s a past America’s Road Team captain, where he first learned about Wreaths Across America in its early days.
In 2024, he hauled wreaths in the convoy piloting the camouflage-wrapped “Workforce Heroes” truck in the picture above, but it’s his individual experience, the veterans met and the fallen remembered, that most stand out.
That includes memorable time spent with a Vietnam veteran in-cab with him, then remembering 63 fellow soldiers on the memorial wall in Washington, D.C., and much more besides. Listen in full below.
As mentioned in the podcast, a few pieces of past coverage of the Maine-Arlington convoy, and other Wreaths Across America events around the country:
- 2023 interview with Don Queeney, Director of Transportation for the organization
- 2022 convoy stop in Connecticut
- 2021 in the San Joacquin Valley, California
- 2014: Trucker Vince Strupp recalls prior-years' participation in the convoy
- 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee
[Related: Owner-op's vets-tribute FLD and Kentucky trailer, and its story of sacrifice, achievement and hope]
