Special delivery

U.S. Marine Corps veteran David Bice sets a Wreaths Across America wreath at the Coast Guard monument at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Dec. 15. Mikey Dengel of 4 D’s Trucking, Inc., of Reddick, delivered the wreaths, which were donated by the trucking company. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]

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Posted December 16, 2025 | By Andy Fillmore, [email protected]

Trucker Mikey Dengel had a special delivery the morning of Dec. 15 for the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park.

Dengel, with 4 D’s Trucking, Inc., of Reddick, arrived in an SUV loaded with donated Wreaths Across America wreaths. He was escorted by Ocala Police Department corporals Isaac Mercer and William Joedicke with their vehicles’ emergency lights and sirens operating.

According to Ron Oppliger, chairman of the park support and volunteer group, Friends of Marion County Veterans Park, Dengel contacted him Dec. 14 about dropping off a group of donated wreaths the next day.

Dengel’s family trucking firm hauls wreaths from Maine as part of the Wreaths Across America event, which is held annually in December, including at the Highland Memorial Park in Ocala on Dec. 13.  The campaign sees thousands of veterans’ gravesites honored with fresh wreaths “in all 50 states, at sea and abroad,” according to wreathsacrossamerica.org

Dengel said his family’s company has hauled Wreaths Across America wreaths for 14 years at no cost and will transport about 6,000 this year, mostly to the Sarasota National Cemetery, a 295-acre facility near Interstate 75 and State Road 72 in Sarasota.

A Facebook post for the Friends & Family of Sarasota National Cemetery indicated that 9,882 wreaths had been sponsored for the cemetery by Nov. 24.

The wreaths delivered to the local veterans’ park were placed at the bases of eight freestanding monuments dedicated to those who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Guard, Merchant Marines and Space Force.  The monuments, each with an adjacent pole holding the flag of that service branch, were provided to the park as the Eagle Scout project of Nicholas Eggers of Ocala Troop 72.

Prior to the placement of the wreaths, a group joined in a prayer led by Renee Coventry.

Oppliger and Veterans Helping Veterans USA of Marion County Executive Director Todd Belknap both made brief addresses before the wreath placements.

To learn about the local park, go to marionfl.org and marionvetpark.com