(WENY) -- For decades, people have been honoring fallen soldiers and veterans in a special way around the holidays. Hundreds of people volunteered in Bath and Elmira for Wreaths Across America to show their gratitude.

Some volunteers say it's an important way to learn how to honor service members and, for others, it hits closer to home.

"My daughter and I come up, my daughter was a Marine also back in the early 2000s, and we come up to honor all of the veterans with a wreath," said Walter Beach, a Vietnam War Veteran and Wreaths Across America volunteer. "And I also have a brother, who didn't die in combat but he was a veteran, and is buried here. We used to get a special wreath for him and drop it on his grave."

Volunteers nationwide, like Beach and his daughter Diana Lewis, make Wreaths Across America possible by helping out in local communities. Between the Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira and the Bath National Cemetery, over 8,500 wreaths were laid on the graves of fallen soldiers and veterans in the Southern Tier.

"My uncle was one of my heroes," said Lewis. "All of my uncles have served in some branch in one form or another, whether reserve or active. To be able to go over to his grave and thank him, it's just one more way I can remind him that we love him, even though he's not here."

Lewis says serving in the military is multi-generational for her family. As her father said, Lewis also served as a Marine, and in just a few months, her son will also be joining the Marine Corps.

Beach and Lewis say Wreaths Across America is important to honoring their brothers and sisters in arms but it's also important to do so all year round.

After a brief ceremony, volunteers grabbed wreaths and placed them carefully on headstones. During the process, they gave each soldier a salute or placed a hand on their hearts.

"When a veteran dies, his name is never said again, and now they're not remembered," said Linda Conway, the Co-Coordinator for Wreaths Across America at the Bath National Cemetery. "So now, when we lay the wreaths, we step back, we say their name, so they'll never be forgotten."

People of all ages and backgrounds gave up their mornings and afternoons to partake in laying wreaths.

While Wreaths Across America happens on a designated day, people can still place wreaths at any time during the holiday season.

"I hope they'll go home and they'll share what they did today and recruit more people to buy more wreaths," said Conway. "I mean, they're just 17 dollars. There's a lot of fundraising groups and they get five dollars back for each wreath and that's how they can do things in the community."

The gesture of laying a wreath may seem small but, it serves as a reminder to honor veterans all year round.

To see how many wreaths have already been placed or for more on how to place a wreath in Elmira, you can check out the Wreaths Across America website. To participate in Bath, you can find that information here.